On Fri, 17 Oct 1997, Noyes wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> > I also have a sparrow that I thought was a Golden crowned but has no white
> >on
> > its head(or black) the center stripe is yellow with the two outside
> stripes
> > deep brown on its crown.(ground feeding also, typically late in the
> >evening.)
> > Help. (and if you have any input on good books for sparrow reference I
> would

This sounds to me like a quite good description of a first-year
Golden-crowned Sparrow. The Golden-crowned immature differs from the
White-crowned immature as it has three strips in the pattern you described
where the White-crowned has more stripes on either side of the three. The
stripes atop the crown on the Goldie also are very much atop the crown,
not really extending down the sides.

The plumages of these early fall Golden-crowneds can be confusing because
the adults are not as bright as they should be as well. If there is
really extensive yellow (not as bright as spring though), you could also
have a well-worn adult Goldie, but the three stripe description is one
which separates Goldies from the other two.

There are some good guides on Sparrows out there--I recommend the one
from Academic Press (the author's name esacpes me, but someone else'll
fill it in). RK
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Korpi "In sports [today], we ignore the decent and the
Hm: Portland, OR admirable; basically, we don't have time for these
Wk: Clark College any more." --Frank DeFord, NPR, 7/16/97
Vancouver, WA
rkorpi at clark.edu "Just in sports?" --RK, 7/16/97