Hi Tweets,

Jon Anderson writes:

>But, this bird's had a well-defined white throat, rather than grayish, and
>there were black malar "mustache" stripes, bordering the white throat.

A fair number of Basic 1 White-crowned Sparrows (WCSP) have very pale grey
throats but the black malar-stripe bordering is pure White-throated Sparrow
(WTSP).

>It had a 'straw-colored' (dark orangish-yellow) bill

Which WTSP lacks at any age, but typical of 'gambelli' WCSP, which is the
race with which WTSP would likely hybridise somewhere in northern BC. With
all the clearcutting that's happened in BC, the older clearcuts have
supported the westward extension of the WTSP range, bringing it into some
contact with WCSP. We may be seeing more of these hybrids.

Sounds like a WTSP X WCSP hybrid to me, Jon.

Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with style!
Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
mprice at mindlink.net