sparrow id 1

[allanrube]

Shot at Bosque last week

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Looks like a white-crowned sparrow to me.

[John Chardine]

Agree. A beautiful bird. One of my favourites.

[allanrube]

Axel and John - thanks a lot. I have another one but have to wait 24 hours before posting.

[Chris Sloan]

Clearly a White-crowned Sparrow, but what subspecies? Anyone want to try?

[Doug Hitchcox]

Pale lores, orange bill, and location all look good for Gambel's

[Chris Sloan]

Yeah, that was my thought too.

[allanrube]

Gambel's sparrow? Is there another name? I just looked in The Sibley Guide to Birds and could not find it in the index.

[Dan Brown]

The name would be simply White-crowned Sparrow! I am not so sure that this is a subspecies gambelii, the lores seem too dark according to my Nat. Geo. 5th edition. Looks more like subspecies nuttalli! I guess that you could label it Gambels White-crowned Sparrow or Nuttalls White-crowned Sparrow, which ever SS you decide on.

[Chris Sloan]

Not sure what Nat Geo shows, but the lores are perfect for gambelii in my experience. It is very unlikely to be nuttalli, since that subspecies is a non-migratory resident of California. The other candidate in the area where this photo was taken would be oriantha. I think on oriantha the black eye stripe usually connects to the lateral crown stripe, and that is clearly not the case here.

[Aidan Briggs]

I would agree with Chris. The nuttalli subspecies is a resident in coastal CA. It is not usually found very far inland.