My wife just spotted this bird at our feeder. Not a birder, she's always
asking me "What's that bird?", often a song sparrow; but
she hit the jackpot this time. And just in time as these winter
birds/migrants are due to leave before long. I'm not sure I've ever had
one here before, at least that I recognized. And over many years we've had
almost yearly Slate-colored, one or two that returned for a successive
year. Recently there was a OBOL post of a immature female Slate-colored, so
I'm not totally sure of this one. So?
An interesting "subspecies" or is this just a hybridizing contact zone?
And if not a hybrid between 'Oregon' and 'Slate-colored',
what would such a hybrid look like relative to Cassair?
For more on the enigma of the Cassair, see eBird comments at
https://ebird.org/pnw/news/dark-eyed-junco-races-oregon-slate-colored-and-cassiar/
Bob OBrien
Carver OR
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