Mystery Bird: Brewer's Sparrow, Spizella breweri

I think this is a Brewer's Sparrow. At first I was thinking the beak was too long for the "very small bill" noted by Sibley, but then I noticed the illustration of the "Northern (timberline)" race, with its "longer, darker bill." This bird is in South Dakota, so maybe it qualifies for "northern"? I'm not sure exactly what Sibley means when he talks about the "relatively clean, contrasting supercilium and nape" on the northern subspecies, but this bird certainly looks like the illustration in those parts of its body.

On Brewer's generally, Sibley mentions the "weak contrast on face markings," which this bird has. This bird also has Sibley's "indistinct lateral throat stripe", "dingy gray-brown overall", "complete white eye ring" (well, mostly), and "streaked nape".

On balance, I think that's good enough for me.

If this helps...I'd be pretty comfortable making the call on this, given what's typically found in this part of South Dakota in fall, IF there were a dark eye-line and a couple of distinct white wing-bars.

But...they're absent...

This sparrow has pink beak and pink legs making it a field sparrow altho a juvenile one, hence the faint chest stripping. It has a very distinct wing bar and a 2nd indistinct one. The grey throat and sub-oricular patch also fits.

Key marks for me are the facial pattern and the striped (vs. a solid) crown. Definitely one of the Spizella sparrows, but facial pattern and striped crown indicates it's either Chipping, Brewer's, or Clay-colored sparrow.

It's almost certainly a first-year bird, and each of these Spizella species could have the striped crown shown by this bird.

Chipping are the most common in this part of the state, but they have pretty obvious dark eye-lines and two distinct white wing-bars. Clay-colored typically has a stronger facial pattern than this guy.

That leaves Brewer's, which my first thought as well. However, there are only 2 reports of that species anywhere in South Dakota, other than the extreme western edge, and the closest is 200 miles west of where this was taken in far eastern South Dakota, which makes me question the Brewer's label. Brewer's definitely aren't know for wandering far to the east of their normal range, in the western U.S.

Sibley's list first-year Brewer's, Clay-colored, and Chipping as sometimes "unidentifiable". I don't like that category though!!

This bird looks like one I've been trying to see lately in the marshes of Central Florida; the Grasshopper Sparrow. The in-distinct eye ring and weak rusty area around it,the slim head,the buff breast and wiggly wing bars influenced my guess. If the shot was taken in Sept, 2006, that's my guess, and I'm sticking with it.

Definitely NOT a Grasshopper Sparrow; I've seen (and banded) too many of those, and this ain't one of them. If this is a Brewer's Sparrow, it has a lot "warmer" tone than most of the Brewer's Sparrows' I've seen. And, according to Google Maps, the location is out of range for Brewer's Sparrow in SD. But the facial pattern matches that ID, so I'll go with that, and hope that the photographer adjusted the warmness of the picture so that a normally glacier-grey bird was given a warmer tone via the magic of Photoshop!

The black on the upper bill and the amount of black on the back steer me to American Tree Sparrow, even though the plumage seems a bit drab for that bird.

Clay-colored Sparrow because of grey hind neck and light lores.

My vote would be for Chipping Sparrow. I agree with Terry that it fits the Spizella profile well. Within that group, I too think that the facial pattern seems far too indistinct for Clay-colored. I also agree with Albatrossity that it seems unusually "warm" for a Brewer's, but admit that photos can be misleading in that regard.

That being said, I see three features that point me toward Chipping: the largely pink bill with dusky upper mandible, the hint of rufous in the crown, and the lack of distinct dark malar stripes (the latter being a point nicely illustrated in Pyle's guide). I've seen a good number of Chipping Sparrows (mostly in the east, admittedly) that look quite like this, and don't have distinct eye-lines or wing bars, as mentioned by Terry.

Not Brewer's because of the unstreaked gray nape. Not Chipping because of the pale lores. Not American Tree because of bill color, nape, breast, etc. Not Field Sparrow for similar reasons.

It's a Clay-colored Sparrow. Everything fits. Unless it's a hybrid.