I've had a very similar bird at our place in Corvallis in the past few days
that I've been wondering about. The funny thing about my bird is that its
two sides look slightly different from each other. On the right side, the
gray head and chest end in a somewhat concave pattern, and the gray bleeds
along the flanks, with some rufous tinges mixed in toward the rear. On the
left side, the gray head and chest from more of a hooded look, with gray
flanks. So one side resembles a classic Slate-colored (except, perhaps, for
the rufous tones in the flank), while the other side looks more like
Cassiar's - very strange! Unfortunately, the bird has refused to pose for
pictures thus far.
Regarding Bob's bird, I agree with Lars and Dave that it still falls within
the Slate-colored spectrum (to the extent that I'm familiar with it).
Cheers
Hendrik
On Wed, Mar 27, 2019 at 5:06 PM David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I would call this an immature Slate-colored for the issues Lars raises.
Dave Irons
Beaverton, OR
Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 27, 2019, at 5:00 PM, Lars Norgren <larspernorgren@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Some portion of the cognoscenti will discount this as a Cassiar because it
lacks an Oregon style hood, black clearly delineated from grey flanks, a
convex margin at the upper breast. Also the bright red back...? I have
examined well under a hundred Slate-coloreds in half a century. Others on
this list have looked at thousands. Are the pinkish-buffy flanks OK for
S-c. A similar bird was put up here earlier this year with the same slate
colored foreflank but buff at the rear, the same brown back and nape. Some
said it was well within the range of regular S-c J. I feel the Cassiar is a
hybrid swarm, not a real subspecies, and one should expect broad
variability. Lars
On Wed, Mar 27, 2019, 2:44 PM Robert O'Brien <baro@xxxxxxx> wrote:
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
