Need bird ID help

[LVSteve]

Been noting some odd bird calls around here lately. Today I spotted this critter mixed up with the House Finches. It's sparrow/finch size, but with finer lines. I've been rooting through the Allaboutbirds website to no avail. Reconciling the streaked breast with those face markings seems to be the problem.

Any ideas?

 

[oldbrownhat]

No idea but get the Merlin bird app from Cornell for your phone and it will ID it from the call

 

[rwsmith]

White-Crowned Sparrow?

 

[Onomea]

 

[LVSteve]

No idea but get the Merlin bird app from Cornell for your phone and it will ID it from the call

I don't have a recording of the call, unfortunately.

 

[LVSteve]

That would have been my first guess, but none of the photos I could find online showed one with the distinctive white lines that didn't have the very obvious black throat. I'm guessing this example is just starting to get his adult plumage.

 

[LVSteve]

Of course, just to mess with our heads, there is this female from the Caribbean.

Western Spindalis

Apparently specialized for life on islands, the Western Spindalis is widespread in the Caribbean, but it seldom visits the mainland. In our area it is a rare visitor to southern Florida. Most records...

www.audubon.org

 

[mrchick]

It appears to be a juvenile.



Versus an adult.