I have had an oddly colored Golden-Crowned Sparrow here for about two weeks. It showed up with four others and a pair of White-Crowned Sparrows.

This bird now comes regularly to my hanging feeder,about 6 1/2 ft above ground. It is definitely a G.C Sparrow. The unusual thing is the coloring that the bird is displaying in the crown. I have been told that an individual bird often shows an unusual coloring, so I have ignored this one until today I saw 3 of these same colored birds together in two of my feeders, both hanging side by side. I also know that it usually is a ground-feeding bird, but no one has told it, or them. Although I have seen it on the ground once or twice, it prefers the feeder with the Purple Finches.

This bird has all the typical markings of a Golden-Crowned Sparrow in breeding dress, but the odd coloring is in the crown. The crown is typically golden on the front half of the crown, but the back half of the crown has a very distinct white. The crown seems to be quite evenly split between white and gold. If this is typical of any golden-crowneds that anyone is familiar with, please let me know. With three of them together with the same color pattern, I don't accept that this is just a strangely colored bird of the species.

And yes, we do have a picture of an individual one of these birds. The one or ones (?) come regularly to my feeders, and usually one is with a Purple Finch female, but usually with two Purple Finches. They are here each morning and usually several times throughout the day. They have a pretty regular pattern, and I am starting to note their times of arriving.

J.V.Bonham
jvbonham at msn.com
Centralia, WA