I find sparrows difficult to tell apart (I'm new at this). Field guides do not show the differences as clearly as one might wish. Two candidtes I'm considering are White-Throated and White-Crrowned. Whem it bends down it looks a lot like a chipmunk. Here is a top view.
Here is a side view
Hi GT, The second photo is a Dark-eyed Junco- Right
White-throated Sparrow- Left
Agree with pelletory on the 2nd picture. On your first photo I,m not sure...do you have another shot of the same bird?
Hi Burd - I'm afraid that I don't have another photo that I can guarantee is the same bird. The two photos were taken several minutes apart. I thought that they were the same bird, but then if I were really knowledgable about birds I wouldn't be posting ID requests here. I thought that the "head shot" was distinctive, but none of my field guides compare top views of sparrows and many side depictions look alike to me. I'm really impressed by the level of observatrional skill and knowledge of a number of you out there.
Greenthumb99
No doubt the lower placed bird is definitely a Dark-eyed Junco.
Like Burd, I wish I had a little better pic of the bird on the left to examine, but that can't be helped. I looked hard at the bird, and like pellle, think it's a White-throated Sparrow. The throat certainly looks white to me. The next time you see it, look closely at the eyebrow and the throat, If it truly is a W-t Sparrow you will see a splash of yellow at the front of the eyebrow (supercillium). Look at my photo below to see the yellow area along with the white throat on my two birds.
Hack
This message was edited Feb 13, 2010 11:17 PM
Your first shot still could be Id-ed by another...hard to Id the top of the head without being absolutely correct. (for me anyways). I am curious..I hope it gets Id-ed also.
