Subject: Very strange sparrow at Shoreview...
Date: Mar 25 12:58:29 1999
From: Maureen Ellis - me2 at u.washington.edu


Could this be one of the eastern races of the Fox sparrow, very rare here,
just passing through? There is also a quite large, quite reddish morph
of the Song sparrow that occurs here in the NW.......saw this version of
the this sparrow up at Gibsons, B.C., (and mistakenly called it a Fox
sparrow) during the glory days of the Xantus' hummingbird a couple of
winters ago.
Cheers,
Maureen Ellis me2 at u.washington.edu U of WA & Burien-Seahurst Park, WA

"Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of
confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication, and courage."
-Carl Sagan-

"We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities." -Pogo-

On Thu, 25 Mar 1999, Michael P Dossett wrote:

> Hi tweets,
>
> Well, its Spring break for me, so I am finally beginning to get caught up
> on some of my e-mail.
>
> I thought I would ask for opinions on a very strange sparrow which Jason
> Starfire and I have been seeing at Shoreview. Neither one of us has seen
> anything like it before, and unfortunately, it has foiled all of my
> attempts (about 7 now) to get a photo. Here goes:
>
> Very large sparrow, about the size of a large fox sparrow.
> Dark brown/chocolaty back with a slightly lighter colored tail (almost
> gives impression of having a few reddish tones)
> There are also black streaks on the back, but they are easy to miss
> because the back color is so dark.
> Large white auricular patch! (this is getting more and more interesting)
> black malar stripe, gray supercilliary and rufous cap.
> The breast is white and streaked/spotted. The pattern (if it could be
> called that) is hard to make out but reminds me more of a fox
> sparrow than anything else.
> Legs are flesh colored.
>
> Now for its behavior:
>
> Call is very similar to Song Sparrow (actually when hearing it call back
> and forth with Song Sparrows the only difference I have noticed is that
> it is a louder and slightly harsher sounding "chuck" call.
> It doesn't usually stand still for very long and flits through the ferns
> and underbrush on the hillside.
>
> Jason...did I miss anything? feel free to jump in and add anything.
>
> We think that it has got to be a hybrid of some sort, but we haven't
> figured out of just what yet. The auricular patch is the bird's
> strangest feature. Any ideas?
>
> Later,
>
> Michael Dossett
> Bothell, Washington
> mpdossett at juno.com
> phainopepla at yahoo.com
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