Subject: Stalking the Problem Sparrow
Date: Jan 12 21:11:50 1997
From: Kelly McAllister - alleyes at mail.tss.net


Tweeters,

Today I went back to Hartman Road (Nisqually Valley) to look for the sparrow
that had me baffled during the Olympia Christmas Bird Count on December 22,
1996. It was a beautiful day and the sparrow was there when I drove
up...amazing. I spent a full hour viewing this sparrow through my scope and
taking notes and scrutinizing/reading the two field guides I brought along
(Peterson and National Geographic).

I had extremely good views of the bird, watching it perch atop a steel fence
post or on Himalayan Blackberry vines. Occasionally, it would fly to a
dense patch of dried-up forbs in the agicultural field. Soon, it would be
back at a favored perch. I had a difficult time making it match any bird
description or photo. I finally decided that the American Tree Sparrow
provided the best fit. Here are the American Tree Sparrow field marks and
my observations of the Nisqually sparrow.


American Tree Sparrow Hartman Road sparrow

Bill dark above, yellow below Orange bill, upper and lower, dark tip
Red-brown cap Rusty crown, split down midline by gray
Rufous stripe behind eye Rusty stripe behind eye
Gray throat White or very light gray throat
Diffuse rufous whisker stripe Whisker stripes appeared to be light
red-brown
Dark central spot on breast Immaculate white or light gray
breast and belly
Two bold white wing bars Two wing bars, upper one pretty
non-descript
Tail notched Tail notched
Back streaked with black and rufous Upper back streaked light and dark
Buffy sides Buffy sides

I began to think I had a pretty good fit. The habitat description in the
National Geographic Guide says "Winters in weedy fields, marshes, groves of
small trees", a nearly perfect description of the Hartman Road site.
However, the Hartman Road sparrow had an orange beak, including the upper
mandible and the dark central breast spot (a key field mark for American
Tree Sparrow) was obviously lacking.

When I got home, I looked in "The Audubon Society Master Guide to Birding"
and saw the picture of an juvenile White-crowned Sparrow. It looks alot
like the bird at Hartman Road. Most importantly, it has the reddish-brown
crown stripes, the light bill with dusky tip, and the immaculate breast and
belly.

The bird was a large sparrow and it acted like a White-crowned Sparrow
(though I don't know what an American Tree Sparrow acts like). I am tending
to think it was a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow. Any Olympia or Tacoma
Tweeters who might want to give this bird a look, it seems to be solidly
planted in this spot along Medicine Creek at the first gated road on the
left when heading north on Hartman Road.

Kelly McAllister
Olympia Washington