Hi all,
I would feel pretty comfortable accepting this bird as a member of the
*schistacea
*group, provided that we consider *altivagans *to be part of that group. To
me, this looks somewhat intermediate between a "pure" Slate-colored and an
*altivagans*, given the amount of brownish spotting on the flanks (more
typical for *altivagans*, which tend more toward a rufous underside
than *schistacea),
*but I don't have enough experience with these taxa to be certain one way
or another. But I think we can safely eliminate Red, Sooty, and
Thick-billed forms.
Just my 2 cents.
Hendrik
On Sat, Feb 13, 2021 at 5:36 PM Jay Withgott <withgott@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all —
OK, I’ve been sitting on this one for a while and it’s past time to deal
with it. Below are photos in 3 checklists of a Fox Sparrow at Mount Tabor
in Portland that is thought to be perhaps a “Slate-colored” (schistacea) or
perhaps “altivagans” (which I think w/b within eBird’s “schistacea group”).
* Here’s the initial checklist by finder Ross Barnes-Rickett:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S79291975
* Here are photos by Tom McNamara: https://ebird.org/checklist/S79619591
* Chris Hinkle has seen the bird 3 times and lists it as Slate-colored:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S80666664
The crown color appears possibly a bit different to me in Ross’s vs. Tom’s
photos, but everyone seems to feel this is the same bird.
eBird has 4 options for Fox Sparrows (which may not be enough to encompass
the actual variation, of course, esp. re: whatever “altivagans” is). The 4
options are:
* Sooty (unalaschcensis group)
* Thick-billed (megarhyncha group)
* Slate-colored (schistacea group)
* Red (iliaca/zaboria)
I’m thinking the Portland bird should probably be confirmed as
Slate-colored (schistacea group), but what would you all do with this bird?
Thank you!
Jay
