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#91386
This small bird has been perplexing passers by for a few months at Jericho park. ID would be most appreciated.

Seen between February-May this year, at least.

Best guess would be a puffy wintering snow bunting, with its blackish wings and mottled head and body. On the other hand, this area is heavily trafficked by eBirders, and the last time a snow bunting was reported was 2017, although it was around the same time of year.

ImageMystery bird by Nic Bird, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/p/2nonHmQ
#91389
Thanks for the reply. That's what I first suspected (of course I would say that!), but was put off by red-eyed examples I found upon googling, while this one seems more black-eyed. Nonetheless that would certainly explain why it is always around towhees, acting like a towhee.

I bumped up shadows and reds in lightroom and it turns out the eyes are actually medium brown. I suppose all bets are off with leucistic specimens.
#91392
northvanrob wrote:Actually it's a leucistic Fox Sparrow!
That was going to be my 2nd guess (yeah, easy for me to say now) but I went with Towhee just because of the company he was keeping.
Thanks Rob, and I agree it's an amazing bird.

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