The bird is not a tree sparrow. If it were a tree sparow, it would have
a rusty reddish cap; gray supercilium (not tan as in this bird); a rusty
line through the eye (not blackish as in this bird); gray cheeks (not
brown as in this bird); a clear, warm gray breast with a black central
spot and no hint of streaking as seen on this bird; and a bicolored bill
with gray upper mandible and yellow lower mandible. Regardless of size,
no other North American sparrow shows this combination of field marks.
All of the field marks point to chipping sparrow as discussed in
previous emails.

Good birding.
Craig Tumer
Portland, OR

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [obol] need mid-west Sparrow and Chickadee help ...
> From: Lyn Topinka <pointers at pacifier.com>
> Date: Tue, October 28, 2008 11:04 pm
> To: David Irons <llsdirons at msn.com>,Lyn Topinka
> <pointers at pacifier.com>, <obol at oregonbirdwatch.org>
> Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> gosh ... I hadn't noticed the feet ... they do look wierd !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> I've heard back from one Ohio bird-list person already (gosh, it's
> after 1:00 back there, they must be burning the midnight oil) who
> thought juvenile Chipping or juvenile American Tree Sparrow ... he
> asked about size, saying if it was a smaller bird then it would be
> the Chipping ... unfortunately I was so busy shooting images that I
> cant say how his size compared to the House Sparrow ... I wasn't
> really aware I had taken a picture of a non-House Sparrow until I
> looked at the images later that evening ...
> later,
> Lyn
> At 10:46 PM 10/28/2008, David Irons wrote:
> >Hi Lyn,
> >
> >The sparrow is definitely a Chipping for reasons suggested by Craig
> >Tumer. I would add that this bird has dark lores (Clay-colored
> >Sparrows have pale lores) and the median stripe on the crown is not
> >quite as obvious as it would be on a Clay-colored, which serves to
> >make the bird look like it has a pretty solid crown.
> >
> >I also agree with those who offer that this is a Black-capped
> >Chickadee. Even though the image is a bit blurry, you can see what
> >appear to be white edgings to the tertials and secondaries, which is
> >a helpful mark in separating Black-capped, which shows fairly bright
> >white edgings, from Carolina, which shows less obvious pale gray
> >edges to these feathers.
> >
> >One final note, what is going on with the feet on the Chipping
> >Sparrow? They look a bit deformed and like they have some abnormal growths.
> >
> >Dave Irons
> >Eugene, OR
> >
> > > Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:14:46 -0700
> > > To: obol at oregonbirdwatch.org
> > > From: pointers at pacifier.com
> > > CC: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> > > Subject: [obol] need mid-west Sparrow and Chickadee help ...
> > >
> > >
> > > hi groups ...
> > >
> > > last week I was back in Silver Lake, Ohio (near Akron, Ohio) for a
> > > few days ... I had lots of time to sit and photograph my dad's feeder
> > > and the birds in his backyard ... among the MANY photographs I took
> > > there were two birds which I could use help with IDs ... one was a
> > > Sparrow which was mixed in with a bunch of House Sparrows, and the
> > > other was a rather plain Chickadee ... unfortunately I have only one
> > > image of each bird ... if anyone can help please click on the
> > > following link to see those images ...
> > >
> > > http://columbiariverimages.com/Birds/OhioBirds/ohio_unknowns.html
> > >
> > > thanks,
> > > Lyn
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Lyn Topinka
> > > http://EnglishRiverWebsite.com
> > > http://ColumbiaRiverImages.com
> > > http://RidgefieldBirds.com
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > obol mailing list
> > > obol at oregonbirdwatch.org
> > > http://oregonbirdwatch.org/mailman/listinfo/obol
> >
> >
> >----------
> >You live life beyond your PC. So now Windows goes beyond your PC.
> ><http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/115298556/direct/01/>See how
> Lyn Topinka
> http://EnglishRiverWebsite.com
> http://ColumbiaRiverImages.com
> http://RidgefieldBirds.com
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