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Passer domesticus
Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings.
The House Sparrow is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world and is strongly associated with human habitations, and can live in urban or rural settings. Though found in widely varied habitats and climates
Spotted on Jul 14, 2013
Submitted on Aug 25, 2013
12 Comments
http://retiringwithlisadeleon.blogspot.c...
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fema...
Just some examples to show how variable they can be. Just like people, no two are identical when studied closely.
I also looked in the guide from Paul Sterry & Brian E. Small they also don't mention the white bar, but I agree to call 'her' House Sparrow ;-))
They all have the white wing bar, but I'm talking about the full wing bar that extends across the whole wing. In all my field guides, they only have the wing bar that is only on 3-4 feathers, not all the way across.
They should all have that white wingbar, both males and females but it wears away very quickly in the females., which then look drab until the next moult.
Well I went and looked at a lot of pictures on Google, and some have a full white wing bar, but most don't. I can't find any descriptions that mentions anything about the white wing bar, so I guess it could just be a variable thing. Glad other people chimed in to help figure this one out!
as I understand it, it is like the cuckoo who also uses this technique.
I will compare al the pictures with a house sparrow maybe it's the light in the picture who gives the white stripe.
Thanks a lot Ashley, Malcolm and Apeachg !!
I guess I'd call it a female House Sparrow too, even though that white wing bar isn't right. Nothing else it can be though.
Female House Sparrow for me.
Great! What is probably happening here is this is a first year Cowbird, and that is it's "mom" next to it. Brown-headed Cowbirds are nest parasites, meaning they lay their eggs in nests of other species, and the other species care for the young like their own. So although the Cowbird is in adult plumage (which they hit at the end of summer), he is still hanging around with his "mom."
Yes I have some more, I will place them
Do you have any pictures that show the side? Being able to see the pattern on the wing would help a lot. It does look like a female House Sparrow, but the head looks to be too round to be a House Sparrow, I'm leaning more towards a species of Finch.
I think it's a female house sparrow