When we posted Tuesday's Teaser, we noted that "we have a couple of theories on ID" that we did not post. Here are the theories: One birder thought Swamp Sparrow, and another thought Lark Sparrow.
Lo and behold, Here's the additional vote so far: 5 for Swamp Sparrow, 1 for Lark Sparrow.
Original post is here.
Feel free to weigh in.
The Lark Sparrow is entirely unlike any other emberizid, and very different from the Swamp Sparrow (which is what this is–the majority “vote” got it right this time).
But it’s amazing the misidentifications of that species I’ve witnessed over the years: once someone told me they had a flock of American Tree Sparrows in a Tucson backyard (misled, I suppose, by the breast spot of Lark Sparrows), and another time I watched a visiting birder nearly have a stroke when the strong head pattern of a Lark Sparrow led him to identify it as a Five-striped Sparrow. It’s one of those birds you never get wrong once you really see one, but so strange-looking otherwise that it can fill heads with funny ideas.
Isn’t sparrow identification the BEST?