[TN-Bird] Clay-colored Sparrow, Perry County
- From: birdchaserrws <birdchaserrws@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:06:05 -0500
This evening after I came home from work I noticed a fresh influx of
Sparrows in my yard and surrounding areas.
The majority were Chipping Sparrows, as expected, but after some careful
glassing I finally found a good-looking one.
The bird sat in a tree overhead for several minutes, and here is what I saw
that convinced me that it wasn't a CHSP.
1. Warm, buffy supercillium.
2. Brown ear-patch, with well-defined dark borders.
3. Malar stripe (lower border of ear-patch) equally dark as the eye-stripe.
4. Faint lateral throat-stripe.
5. Pale Buffy loral area. (Eye-stripe did not extend in front of eye.)
6. Rump seen only briefly, but looked like brownish, rather than gray as in
CHSP.
I was unable to get a look at the central crown-stripe, but everything else
seemed to check out as good for an immature, (First winter) Clay-colored
Sparrow.
While this is a new yard bird for me, it is not exactly an unfamiliar bird, as
I ran across quite a few in Texas and further West.
However, this seems to be a little early? I welcome any comments about whether
the field marks I mentioned would be diagnostic.
All the Sparrows soon left for the night, and I didn't see it again. Hopefully
it will be back for photos when I am around.
Ruben Stoll
Centerville, Tennessee.
Sent fro my Verizon Wireless smartphone
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