NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, March 15, 2018 ( Thursday )
To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the
information line editor,
For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .
For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .
Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca
Transcript by: Brian Stone bjpstone@gmail.com
Info Line # 506-384-6397
(384-NEWS)
** Non breeding plumage sparrows of those that we have with us breeding in
N.B. in the summer can be confusing when we see them in the fall or winter.
Jamie Burris shares a nice example of that with a sparrow that he photographed
in his Riverview yard on October 14, 2017. It is a CHIPPING
SPARROW [Bruant familier] that has gone from its familiar summer plumage to what
is suggestive of a winter adult that the Sibley guide suggests takes on that
plumage from August to March. The Chipping Sparrow in all plumages has a dark
eye line, however that line extends in front of the eye to the beak to leave the
black lore. That is a significant small feature that suggests a Chipping Sparrow
identification over other winter lookalikes. The dark bill of the summer
breeding plumage gives way to a pale lower mandible with a darker, grayish on
the top ridge of the upper mandible that shows so well in one of Jamie's
photos.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature
Moncton
CHIPPING SPARROW (NON-BREEDING PLUMAGE). OCT 14, 2017.JAMIE BURRIS
CHIPPING SPARROW (NON-BREEDING PLUMAGE). OCT 14, 2017.JAMIE BURRIS
