Roy Gerig et al. photos of the Linn County longspur show a buffy bird with
vague underpants streaking and a pale eyering; and a seemingly large bill.
The primary projection seems short, but aside from that, and Roy's initial
observation of the bird giving a 'kiddle' call, the other Mark's make me
think Smith's longspur based on The Sibley Guide to Bird. I am flummoxed by
why Sibly points out things like a pale eyering on one longspur, but not
the others, he also mentions streaking of various description, butvthise
are subtle enough as to not be useful as field identification marks.
Fieldmarks by definition ought to be useful in the field. I think this
illustrates that longspur field identification is still a a frontier in
birding. This is not meant to be an attack on Sibley, of whom I have great
praise, or an argument against the Identification of the plain-looking
longspur as a Chestnut-collared, but a request for clarity.
David
David C. Bailey
Seaside, Oregon
