[obol] ID of American Tree Sparrow

[Alan Contreras]

Tim asked me yesterday whether there were any old Coos Tree Sparrow records.
I saw the 1976 Tree Sparrow the day after Lars did, as I recall, being
pursued by a Loggerhead Shrike, a very good Coos bird.

-- 
Alan Contreras
EUGENE, OREGON

³Be naughty, save Santa a trip.²

acontrer at mindspring.com
www.OREGONREVIEW.BLOGSPOT.COM ­ Social Commentary
www.CONTRERASBIRDS.BLOGSPOT.COM ­ Current Bird Photos





> From: Norgren Family <gnorgren at earthlink.net>
> Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:08:44 -0800
> To: obol <obol at lists.oregonstate.edu>
> Subject: [obol] ID of American Tree Sparrow
> 
>      Does anyone have tips on distinguishing
> this species? It bears a significant
> resemblance to immature White-crowned
> Sparrows and I suspect many Oregon birders
> may overlook the Tree. Tim Rodenkirk
> saw a Tree Sparrow yesterday within a few
> 100m of where I saw one during the 1976
> Coos Bay CBC. I had just seen a Lincoln's
> Sparrow(a very good bird for me at that
> point in my career) and then a Harris'
> (I believe a first for the Coos CBC).
> Then there was this bird on top of a
> twenty foot alder sapling. I could see
> all the field marks but the breast spot.
> It was at right angles to me on a sunny
> day. A sizeable pond meant I would have
> to negotiate a considerable distance
> through the brush to get a view of its
> chest. It flew off and landed 100 feet
> up a Sitka Spruce, which was probably
> inappropriate for a White-crowned Sparrow.
>      At the countdown that night I proudly
> announced the Harris' Sparrow, but remained
> silent about the other one. Can you imagine
> me holding my tongue about anything? I
> was sixteen years old and my credibility
> was my most precious asset. Many people
> got to see the Harris' Sparrow, and a week
> or more later Alan Contreras mentioned
> in a phone conversation that Larry McQueen
> had seen a Tree Sparrow at the same
> spot. When in doubt, blurt it out!
>       I noticed someone in NE Portland
> reporting American Tree Sparrow on their
> yard list, and I'm fairly confident they
> saw an immature White-crowned Sparrow
> since they didn't treat it as the rarity
> that the Tree Sparrow is. Why wasn't mine
> added to the 1976 count total? The count
> compiler in my home town at the time was
> my closest mentor and he was clearly
> quite jealous of many aspects of the Coos
> Count. I could have called Uncle Ben and
> boosted that year's total to 151, but
> in deference to Mr Annonymous(he often
> gave me rides to rare birds- I had neither
> driver's license nor car) I let the
> matter fade.
>       I'm sorry to acknowledge the existence
> of politics in birding, but it's a reality,
> perhaps slightly more evident during Count
> season than at other times. Now I'm older,
> but certainly not much wiser. When I saw
> a sunset Sora in the sand last year I didn't
> hesitate to emote and speculate in public.
> Yes, it certainly was a Sora. Tim saw it a
> few days later, and I actually saw sufficient
> field marks to back it up. But one
> unintended consequence was that I finally
> figured out that the rail I flushed
> south of Bastia(Corsica) in April 1978
> was a Corn Crake! Lars
> 
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