I birded the Montlake Fill (UBNA?) on Friday late morning and over by the main pond I observed a Western Sandpiper, Savannah Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Wilson's Warbler and a pair of peculiar sparrows which I could not id. So perhaps someone could help with an id or guess?

The pair were near white-crowned sparrows and were approx. same size. At first glance, I thought - oh, a pair of Lincoln Sparrows - but I realized that - no these were not lincoln sparrows. Here is what I observed:

Clean-colored breast with light streaking across the breast and on the sides (streaking against a white background). The sides had a bit of an buffy to orange wash against the stripes but only on the edges. The head is what really confused me. Overall, it was an ochre or orange color. The supercilium and malar were orange with brownish-orange cheek. No yellow or white what-so-ever on the head. The mantle was darkly striped.

The pair preferred the edge of the tall grass - not venturing into the open with the other sparrows and once they noticed me quickly disappeared into the grass. The white breast and orange head have me confused. There were plenty of Savannah's with different degrees of yellow and buff but nothing that was orange. The white-crowns were within 2 feet for a comparison and again nothing like those. The beak seemed a bit longer and thicker than the white crowned but I can't be sure for certain. I was within 15 feet of them with 10 x 40s so had good looks. Again, these were by the main pond and no, they did not vocalize (unfortunately). I've got a good guess on the id but would sure like to hear from the experts on these two.

Cheers,
A. Kopitov
Seattle, WA