Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 11:26:52 -0500 (EST)
From: "James D. Rising" rising@zoo.toronto.edu
Subject: Re: Mystery sparrow
To: Will Cook cwcook@acpub.duke.edu
Cc: janet mannone underg@zoo.utoronto.ca, Jon Greenlaw jsg@iline.com
This is a strange bird. I confess that my first impression was that it
wasn't a sparrow at all (sensu Emberizinae), but a finch of some sort.
However, the fact that this is the second winter that it has appeared I
think strongly argues against it being an excaped cage bird, and strongly
in favor of it being a weird native migratory emberizid. I'd like to
know more about soft part colour. A towhee of that age should either
have a red eye (esp. if it is a migrant) or a straw-colored eye. The
bill looks too "shiny" to be towhee to me, and the tomium too round--but
then, it doesn't look like any sparrow to me. Is the tail as long as a
towhee's? Or is it more Fox Sparrow like. I think that with sort of
individual behavior is an important clue. If Fox Sparrows don't some to
the feeder, but are in the yard, this suggests to me that it isn't a Fox
Sparrow. I think that W-t is out of the question--bill size and jizz all
wrong.
Let me quote from Greenlaw's 1973 note (Auk 90:428-29, 1973) [I'm
forwarding this to Jon. Would be nice if he could see the pictures, but
I don't know if he has web access]
"On 3 June 1968 I collected a first-year male...Rufous-sided Towhee on
its territory in Piscataway Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey....The
specimen is unique in the extent of chestnut and rufous in its plumage,
and is unquestionably an erythristic form....Feathers on the crown and
occiput are broadly tipped (distal one-quarter) with chestnut and black
basally. The forehead bears fewer chestnut-tipped feathers. Overall the
effect is a distinct chestnut cap only a little less complete (black
present) than that found in pure ocai.
"Unlike other partly chestnut towhee specimens reported in the literature
where the color is restricted to the pileum, the present specimen has
chestnut-tipped feathers on parts of the body and wings as well. Contour
feathers tipped with chestnut are most priminent on the breast, lower
back, and upper tail coverts, where they produce a spotted and blotched
effect. Regions with a few chestnut-tipped feathers, or with a faint
suffusion of rusty on otherwise black barbs, include the upper back,
throat (mostly black), malar region, auriculars, and side of the neck.
The rump is uniformly black. Chestnut also appears prominently on the
tips of the greater and middle secondary coverts forming two incomplete
wing bars. The specimen is also unusual in having more rufous on the
white underparts. Rufous is prominent on the upper abdominal region as
well as on the sides and flanks where it is characteristic...."
As I see the photos of your bird, the head is entirely black, but there
is extensive "fox sparrow" colored rusty on the back, breast and flanks
(are there black flecks on the flank?); I see no indication of white on
the underparts or at the base of the primaries. I just don't think it
can be a towhee. Those of you who have had a chance to watch the
bird--what does it act like? In my (limited) experience Fox Sparrows are
noisy in winter--the often go into full song, but your bird may be a
female. The smack alarm note is distinctive. Don't you think that it is
too plump to be a towhee. Random and disorganized notes, these.
Also note that "wierd" birds are often strange in several ways. As a
graduate student I skinned a Red-tailed Hawk that a local farmer (in
eastern Kansas) had shot (because it with different) and brought to the
museum. This bird is what we would call a "partial albino," but is also
was only about 1/2 the size of a normal red-tail, as I recall. Have fun!
Name: Jim Rising
Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G5
rising@zoo.utoronto.ca or rising@zoo.toronto.edu
Phone (416) 978-3482 FAX (416) 978-8532
Lois Schultz
Duke University
Durham, NC USA