Another excellent field mark to look for when trying to distinguish Clay-colored from Chipping Sparrow is the lores (the area between the eyes and the bill). This area is never dark on a Clay-colored Sparrow, but should be blackish on a Chipping. A few years ago, I attended a Kentucky Ornithological Society meeting with Jon Dunn as guest speaker, an expert on sparrows. He told about that field mark. A week or so later I was able to use it to identify a Clay-colored Sparrow at Kyker Bottoms in Blount County, east Tennessee. David Trently, Knoxville, TN =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the count in which the birds you report were seen. The actual date of observation should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp _____________________________________________________________