Subject: Sage Sparrow at LSSP???
Date: Feb 23 18:49:53 1999
From: Michael & Janka Hobbs - MJCT_Hobbs at email.msn.com


Tweets --

This afternoon, I saw a sparrow which I have concluded was a SAGE SPARROW, although that sounds a bit improbable.

About 4:00 this afternoon, in the rain, I flushed a sparrow off the western spit at the mouth of Issaquah Creek in Lake Sammamish
State Park, Issaquah, King Co, WA. It flew to the opposite shore, where I was able to observe it for at least 5 minutes.

The bird spent the entire time on the ground, under and around a tangle of roots. It was very active, never stopping for a moment.
As such, I was able to see the bird from all angles, but I never got a prolonged look at ANY angle. There was often or usually a
twig or two between us, so I had few looks at the whole bird at once.

Most notably, the bird was pale, with a white breast, tan-brown back, and blue-grey head.

The head featured two white stripes, one thin one above the eye, and one wider moustache stripe, which lay under the blue-grey, and
was bordered on the bottom by a dark stripe. There seemed to be a fairly clear separation between the blue-grey head and the
tan-brown back. There were no stripes on the crown. Face-on, there seemed to be a blackness to the lores, bisected by the white
supercillia. This was not apparent from the side.

The back was very pale, and was somewhat mottled - a tan-brown base with tan markings. I could not discern any particular details
to the mottling, as the distance (perhaps 15 yards) was too great in the 4:00 rainy dimness, even with 10x binos and a steady hand.

The breast was mostly clear and white to grey-white. There was faint streaking, mostly at the edges (not in the center of the
breast). I did not see a central breast spot; if there was one it was pale.

The bird was "with" a Bewick's wren. In comparison, the sparrow was decidedly bigger and much, much, much lighter on the back. The
white on the breast of the sparrow was less yellow-toned than the breast of the Bewick's.

After it hopped out of sight, I raced around to the east side of Issaquah Creek, but could not relocate the bird. I will try again
tomorrow.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== MJCT_Hobbs at msn.com