Tweeters,

I birded Schnebly Coulee and east last Sunday. Got many life birds (not
too difficult at this stage of my birding career). In the upper and
middle portions of the coulee, I saw a bird that is new to me.

The bird(s) liked to perch on fence posts and the tops of bushes and
sing. The song seemed to me to be what might result if a robin tried
to sing like a House finch, i.e., there were some robin-like sounds
there, but it was longer and more complex than a robin's song. The
bird was about the size of a robin, but had striping on its belly and
heavier on the throat and upper breast, a whitish breast otherwise,
no eye stripe or eye ring (that I could see), a triangle of slightly
darker color surrounding the eye, and the merest suggestion that the
striping on the throat might someday form a large spot. The under rump
was slightly brown, compared with the white streaked belly. I forgot
to write down what the beak looked like (I'll do better next time).
Based on the Peterson Guide, one possibility is a Fox sparrow. But
the birds I saw didn't seem as dark as in the guide, or as colorful
as in the photo in the Peterson multimedia, and there was no definite
spot. And not at all like the photo in the Stokes Guide.

So, I'm wondering if one does find Fox sparrows in that area, and if
that might have been the birds that I saw. (If you answer this one
for me, I need an ID for a bird that got killed when it rammed the
side of my card at 50 mph on the way over.)

Thanks in advance.

Bob Mauritsen
rhm at ms.washington.edu