[nealdoan]

When I first looked at these pictures I thought it was a Song Sparrow. But as I look again I am wondering if it is a Fox Sparrow because of the dark upper mandible and the grey at the nape. Can anyone help?


Sparrow by Neal D, on Flickr


Sparrow by Neal D, on Flickr

Thanks. Neal

[Bluebird]

Song

[esle9]

I agree, Song. One helpful feature is that Song Sparrows have a really patterny face with a grey eyebrow stripe/supercilium, like your photo, while Fox Sparrows in our region have a plainer face without the thin eyebrow stripe.

[GMcD]

Plus the "spotting" on the chest/breast on a Fox Sparrow are small triangular arrowhead shaped spots. as opposed to the "streaky" spotting on the Song Sparrow.

[keithric]

The two shots below, I hope, illustrate what esle9 and GMcD are describing.
I was confused for a long time, too, until I saw the two species almost side by side.
Now there's no confusion for me at all, even though we see lots of variation among both species.
(For more on the variation, see this link at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website:
scroll down to Related Species for excellent side by side shots of the Song and Fox species,
and the varieties of Fox Sparrow: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/fox_sparrow/id)

Hope these local shots help immediately:

Song Sparrow (your bird) Remember Else's comment about the heads,


Fox Sparrow (The "chevron bird") and GMcD's comments about the chest/breast.

[nealdoan]

Song

Thanks

[nealdoan]

I agree, Song. One helpful feature is that Song Sparrows have a really patterny face with a grey eyebrow stripe/supercilium, like your photo, while Fox Sparrows in our region have a plainer face without the thin eyebrow stripe.

Thanks for the info. Cheers.

[nealdoan]

Plus the "spotting" on the chest/breast on a Fox Sparrow are small triangular arrowhead shaped spots. as opposed to the "streaky" spotting on the Song Sparrow.

Thank you. Cheers.

[nealdoan]

The two shots below, I hope, illustrate what esle9 and GMcD are describing.
I was confused for a long time, too, until I saw the two species almost side by side.
Now there's no confusion for me at all, even though we see lots of variation among both species.
(For more on the variation, see this link at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website:
scroll down to Related Species for excellent side by side shots of the Song and Fox species,
and the varieties of Fox Sparrow: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/fox_sparrow/id)

Hope these local shots help immediately:

Song Sparrow (your bird) Remember Else's comment about the heads,


Fox Sparrow (The "chevron bird") and GMcD's comments about the chest/breast.

Thank you. Cheers