Savannah Sparrow (Savannah) - Philip Kline
Report

Contributor

Date

Location

Crown Zellerbach Trail (east end)
Columbia, Oregon, United States
Media from this location Illustrated Checklist
Map
Map Coordinates: 45.754063, -122.850469
Age
Not specified
Sex
Not specified

Observation details

Thought at first this was a Vesper Sparrow owing to the noticeable prominent eye ring and the fact it was paler and larger than nearby Savannah Sparrows. I only saw it for about 10 seconds and it flushed behind a bramble hedge, so I had no view of its tail in flight. I could not refind it and I only managed out-of-focus photos. I later concluded that the bird was a Savannah Sparrow, likely one of the larger Alaskan subspecies. The obviously contrasting rufous tertials and greater coverts and prominent pale supercillium with little apparent darker streaking, particularly behind the eye, led me to identify it as a Savannah despite the prominent eye ring. Size and shape of the bill and apparent length of tail also point away from Vesper, not to mention the fact that Vesper would be very rare at this location, particularly in January.

Technical information

Model
Canon EOS REBEL T1i
ISO
400
Focal length
250 mm
Flash
Flash did not fire
f-stop
f/5.6
Shutter speed
1/250 sec
Dimensions
1237 pixels x 1237 pixels
Original file size
1.04 MB