Saturday, January 22, 2011

Bird Help!


 What is this little brown bird?  It was sitting on the ground, eating seed, at the Deer Haven Preserve in Delaware county.  It looks like a song sparrow, but it is smaller, has a much smaller bill, and a noticeably shorter tail.


The mystery bird is in the foreground- a typical song sparrow, for comparison, is in the background.



My guess, based on a quick perusal of Sibley's Guide, is a Lincoln's sparrow, but it's not quite a perfect match.    What do you think?

Tom

7 comments:

  1. I'm leaning toward Savannah Sparrow, Tom. I've looked at the All About Birds site, too and they have a shot that almost matches yours in terms of coloring. Yours is plumped up more, but everything else looks right to me.
    Feel free to disagree.
    Sparrows baffle me.

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  2. I buy your Savannah Sparrow... When I was at Deer Haven, I was only looking at the "thick billed" savannah in Sibley, but you're right, it's a good fit for the more typical looking ones. I need Jim to see this.

    Thanks Nina!

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  3. It looks like a Savannah to me also.

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  4. Thanks Lynne- The consesus is that it is a Savannah Sparrow. How unusual are these birds during Ohio's winters?

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  5. Thank you for so nice bird ;) I lice it!

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  6. I'm glad you figured it out. I love seeing new sparrows, but they can be hard to figure. You got such great shots of it!

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