I was late for work, so I only got a glance of this bird on 
my way out the door.  It was hanging out with the usual 
group of House Sparrows in the shrubs on the grounds, but it 
had extensive white on both the tail (outer feathers?) and 
in the wings (toward the tips).  Otherwise it looked like a 
normal House Sparrow as far as I could tell without my 
binoculars, with perhaps a suggestion of more strongly
contrasting black markings on the back than I would expect. 
Size was about the same.

Is this a known variation for House Sparrow or is it perhaps 
something more exotic?  I saw the bird around 9:45 am this 
morning (9/26/05) at Seven Springs Village on Cherry Hill Rd 
in College Park, PG County.

Thanks,

D

-- 
Derek C. Richardson, Ph.D. (CANTAB) ________
Astronomy, U Maryland, College Park MD 20742
Tel: Office 301-405-8786 Fax 301-314-9067 __
Home page: http://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/ __