I was stalking savanah sparrows on the weekend, and I ran into this little one. There were a few of them, and they were doing what sounded like hissing to me. It has the yellow brow, but also some yellow on under the eye.
Charles, it's always helpful for ID purposes if you provide where a bird was photographed. Sometimes they're easy, but with tougher IDs range can be very helpful. Habitat can be good as well, especially for breeding birds.
Without knowing where this was taken, I think your bird is a Nelson's Sparrow of the subvirgatus race. These are much duller than the nominate nelsoni birds. The "hissing" sound is a good description for their song which has also been described as a hot poker being dunked in water. The subvirgatus birds breed along the northern Atlantic coast (I think starting in southern Maine) so I'm assuming that this is the region you took the photo.
Many thanks for the ID on this one. I did indeed take this image on the eastern seaboard of Canada. More precisely in the province of New Brunswick. I looked up the bird in my ibird app, and it looks and sounds just the same.
I found MANY of them at the Dunes in Bouctouche (walking on the beach), also in my father in law's farmer's field which is about 10 minutes from the dunes.
Thanks Charles. I've been looking for places to photograph them. I know they are in my back yard here in Sackville but access is not that convenient locally.
I can show you exactly where I saw them if you're ever in the area. I was somewhat in a hurry when I snapped this one, but I've gone back and they were still in the same location.
Hissing Sparrow
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