'Oriantha' White-crowned Sparrow, Bishop

Observers: Chris and Rosie Howard
Email: chris93514@gmail.com
Verification: MONO
Remote Name: 72.47.27.126
Date: 04/27/2007
Time: 10:44 PM -0400

Sighting

This evening (27 Apr) as we watched the dwindling Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow flock behind our house, we noticed our first of spring 'Mountain' White-crowned Sparrow, aka, the oriantha race. This bird differed from the Gambel's we've been watching all winter by having a darker reddish bill as opposed to candy-corn colored. The lores were black as opposed to pale, making the crown stripes quite striking. The oriantha race winters far south of here and breeds as close as our Sierra, while gambelii winters here and breeds as far north as Alaska.