Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 07:28:20 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Bonnie Ott Subject: Re: Carroll County Sparrow MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > > a specimen popped into view of which I > can only describe as being similar to a song sparrow, however, more > dainty, with finer breast streaks and a buff color about it. A wonderful description of a Lincoln's! I think of the breast streaks of Lincoln's being drawn on carefully with a fine ink pen. A Song's are heavier (as a rule) and appear like they have been painted on with a thicker brush. The buffy wash on the breast of a Lincoln's is always apparent to some degree, some can be very yellow buffy and some more washed out and pale in color. Breast spots-as in songs- can be bold, moderate or non-existent. There is a different tone to the gray colors on Lincoln's in comparison to song sparrow. If the light is good then they tend to have a very slight olive tone to the gray. "Jizz" is very helpful- they usually are "cresting" their little heads. Whenever I see a Lincoln's I always think they are the most beautiful of the sparrows! Bonnie Ott Howard County Field Trip Chair Ellicott City, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================