I am having trouble identifying what species this sparrow is, any help would be appreciated. I captured this image on the Florida Panhandle at Bald Point State Park which is adjacent to Alligator Point in Panacea, Florida. The bird was about one hundred feet from the beach and ocean. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/2000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 320, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC 2017, some invading vegetation removed
Cropped for composition and presentation
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
That's a nice shot, Joe. Lovely background and nice comp. I wish I could identify it for you, but I'm seriously challenged when it comes to sparrows. My guesses range all over the place, from juvenile House Sparrow to 1st winter Chipping Sparrow to nonbreeding Clay-colored Sparrow, this latter looking pretty close to one of the images in my sparrow book.
Beautiful shot of a Clay-colored Sparrow. Love the isolated perch and perfect background. A few field marks to differentiate between clay and chipping are the lack of white eye arcs on this bird. Also the lack of a prominent dark line on the lores. Also note Clay-colored a have a mask that is well defined by dark lines. Nice find for Florida!
Bill and Isaac, Clay Sparrow it will be. I had it labeled that way but looking at the maps of it's habitat I doubted it would be in Florida. Thanks for the help in identifying this bird.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Sparrow
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