Comments on: Speaking of Plumage http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2012/12/15/speaking-of-plumage/ A Bird Blog with Kate St. John Thu, 23 May 2013 02:06:09 +0000 hourly 1 By: Marcy C http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2012/12/15/speaking-of-plumage/comment-page-1/#comment-20877 Marcy C Sun, 16 Dec 2012 01:32:27 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=60478#comment-20877 But the biggest secret with the White-crowned sparrows is their posture(like the top one)…. usually they are standing tall, and not leaning like the rest of the sparrows…that is how I can tell I have a WCSparrow…if you look closely to the stripes, there is another subspecies the stripes don’t go all the way to the beak…gambelii and the beak is pinker…just something more to confuse you or something more to learn, which I do everyday by observing…

]]> By: Peter http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2012/12/15/speaking-of-plumage/comment-page-1/#comment-20870 Peter Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:55:27 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=60478#comment-20870 Whoops! Yes, I was confused. I was a few posts behind and was catching up this morning, so I’d just read the post on avocets and then got to this and remembered seeing my first one. I’d take a redo on that comment! Thanks for sorting everything back out.

]]> By: Kate St. John http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2012/12/15/speaking-of-plumage/comment-page-1/#comment-20869 Kate St. John Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:35:01 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=60478#comment-20869 Peter, I might be misunderstanding your last two sentences … but the top, muted bird is in “juvenile” plumage, the bottom bird is in “basic.” The adults’ alternate (breeding season) plumage is “scarcely different from Definitive Basic, but upper surface somewhat lighter and grayer (less brown)” according to Cornell’s Birds of North America, online at http://bna.birds.cornell.edu

]]> By: Peter http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2012/12/15/speaking-of-plumage/comment-page-1/#comment-20868 Peter Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:13:38 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=60478#comment-20868 I just saw my first white-crowned sparrow on a trip to California this summer. One individual was making an absolute racket…maybe he wasn’t happy with us hiking near him. He came out along the trail in Marin Headlands and kept a close eye on us as we passed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87087391@N00/7437176848/in/set-72157630274577020/lightbox/

Then I saw another in Chicago this fall. Have yet to see one anywhere around Pittsburgh. Would have never guessed these guys had this muted basic plummage – but now I know. :-) I’ve got enough trouble with the alternate breeding plummage I’ll stick to that for now!

]]> By: Anne Marie http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2012/12/15/speaking-of-plumage/comment-page-1/#comment-20867 Anne Marie Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:04:47 +0000 http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?p=60478#comment-20867 Pretty!

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