In a message dated 9/26/2005 11:48:38 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
 writes:

> 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.

Baby towhees---like the ones that keep raiding my feeder recently---might 
match this description. 

---Fred Burggraf
Dentsville, MD