Hey everyone, it's Bobby from LycoBirds, and today I'm going to cover a common confusion pair:
Lincoln's Sparrow and Song Sparrow. This is an ID challenge that will become particularly relevant
where I'm based in Pennsylvania over the next few weeks since Lincoln's Sparrows are mostly moving
through in late September and October. So jumping in, we'll start off with a Lincoln's Sparrow. One
of the main things to look at is the base color of the chest. So, Lincoln's will have a noticeably
buffy color here underneath the streaking and it will extend down into the flanks as well.
But notice how the chest has this buffy color and then the belly is white. They also have
very crisp streaking, almost like it was drawn on with a very fine tip marker or even like a pen.
Another example here we can see that same buffy base color and also the fine streaking
and Lincoln's Sparrows also tend to show a buffy eye ring, which you can see here,
and they often also have a slightly crested appearance with their crown raised and typically
Song Sparrows don't do that. And on this one you can really see how crisp the markings can be.
They're just overall very refined looking birds and they have a somewhat delicate build but
very well proportioned. So compare that to a typical Song Sparrow that you would see
in the east, notice the base color of the chest here is white; it's the same color as the belly.
And the streaking also is quite a bit messier. You can see a lot of the streaking looks like
it's these little chevron patterns almost and just the the streaking overall is a lot thicker and
messier. And you can see, also, the bold triangles here - or wedges - in the throat area,
and that's a typical thing that is very noticeable on Song Sparrows typically. So here's another
example. You can see those dark wedges again and there's no contrast here between the base
color of the chest and the belly - and also the messy streaking again.
And then we'll take a look at a juvenile Song Sparrow. These are overall quite a
bit more Lincoln's Sparrow-like, but notice that overall it just looks messier and has a very dingy
appearance overall, in contrast to the very refined look of a Lincoln's Sparrow. And you
can see there's also no contrast between the chest and the color of the belly.
So let's take a quick look at a few more birds for practice. This one has a buffy chest,
contrasting with the belly, very crisp streaking, so, this is a Lincoln's Sparrow,
of course - and in this photo you can really see how delicate the build can be on these birds.
And on this one we have messier streaking here, thicker streaking,
and you can see this dark wedge in the the malar area... so, this one is a Song Sparrow.
And as I'm hoping you'll anticipate at this point, this is a Lincoln's Sparrow, and this one shows
another feature that Lincoln's Sparrows often have and that's a very finely-streaked throat.
So, that's another thing you can look for, although in the field that's usually not
as noticeable as some of these other points so that's really a minor detail.
And, this one is a Song Sparrow. You can see, very heavy wedge here... again,
white chest, white belly, with thicker streaking. So, one thought to conclude:
if you're trying to decide which of the two you're looking at it's probably a Song Sparrow.
When you're looking at a real Lincoln's Sparrow, it's usually pretty obvious,
especially if you're looking at some of the points that I just mentioned. If there's any
doubt in your mind, you're probably looking at a Song Sparrow. So, if you found this helpful
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