A Modest Quiz Bird

Here’s a somewhat more revealing view of the Chipping Sparrow frequenting our feeders the last couple of days. In my original photo of the partial bird, the bird’s small size (easily deduced by anyone who’s ever held a handful of black oil sunflower seed!) and long, narrow tail pretty much narrowed it down to Spizella. The rich, deep brown of the upperparts should have ruled out Field, Clay-colored, and Brewer’s Sparrows, and the whitish flank and pink toes eliminate American Tree Sparrow.

I actually had to play this quiz myself: the only view I’d had of the bird was its hindquarters on the camera’s display, and had to wait some time to confirm my identification of the image. My identification was confident, on the basis of the features I’ve just described, but it’s well to remember that certainty never precludes error! So we’ve been glad to have the bird linger on the porch, eating its fill of sunflower seeds and chasing the American Goldfinches from their perches.