Hi folks,

Got home a bit early this afternoon, so I set up my mist net in my west Olympia back yard for an hour. Snagged a couple juncos, a juvenile golden-crowned sparrow, and a juvenile Zonotrichia in first-winter plumage that stumped me.

I initially thought that it was a juvie white-crowned sparrow, because of the solid chestnut-brown lateral crown stripes and trace of buff in the grayish median crown stripe. No problem, I thought, just an expected juvenile Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis).

But, this bird's had a well-defined white throat, rather than grayish, and there were black malar "mustache" stripes, bordering the white throat. Aha!, sez I, this is a White-throated Sparrow!! Never having lived in white-throated country, I'm not used to the juvenile plumages of the WTSP, but my reading of the Zonos in Byers et al. "Sparrows and Buntings" and their plate diagram of the White-throated leads me to expect some amount of yellow in the loral area - which 'my' bird did not have.

It had a 'straw-colored' (dark orangish-yellow) bill, no streaking on the underparts, yellow at the bend of the wing. There was a bit of 'light' buff in the loral area, but nothing that approached the supra-loral, supercilium stripe of the White-throated Sparrow. In fact, nothing hinted at WTSP except the white throat and black 'mustache' stripes.

Is it likely or possible that this is a hybrid White-Throated X White-Crowned Sparrow?? After releasing the bird (banded, of course; I sketched it and presumed that I'd determine its parentage afterward..), it dawned on me that I should have photographed it for a more certain ID, but darkness was coming on, and I didn't want to stress the bird more than necessary (Science thwarted once again in the interests of compassion to the individual....).

If anyone could shed some light on this bird, I'd appreciate it. Without more to go on, my inclination is to report this to the Bird Banding Lab as a hybrid, but I'm always open to reason
:-)

Thanks for any help and advice.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net