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Tom Grey | all galleries >> North American Birds by Type >> Songbirds >> Sparrows >> White-crowned Sparrows > White-crowned Sparrow, Pacific, Nuttall's or Puget Sound
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16-OCT-2009 Tom Grey

White-crowned Sparrow, Pacific, Nuttall's or Puget Sound

Pillar Point

This bird, right at the Pacific shore in the resident area of Nuttall's, could be either that subspecies or Puget Sound. Sibley treats these two subspecies as indistinguishable in the field and lumps under the rubric "Pacific." But they often can be distinguished on the basis of sharpness of contrast of the back pattern (more sharp favors Puget Sound), the shade of gray of the underparts (lighter favors Nuttall's), and primary extension (short favors Nuttall's). See Don Roberson's discussion of these subspecies, and of this picture, the latter concluding that it leaves him undecided, at http://creagrus.home.montereybay.com/MTYbirdsWCSP3.html .

Canon EOS-1D Mark III ,Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM
1/1000s f/11.0 at 1000.0mm iso1600 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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