Hi Everybody,

I took a short walk around noon here in my neighborhood including a 
check of the weedy meadow off Elbon Road. Lots of signs of mid-autumnal 
migration including lots of Ruby-crowned Kinglets (15), "Myrtle" 
Warblers (14), and White-throated Sparrows (28). I also noted a number 
of migrating hawks including 5 Red-tails and a Sharp-shinned. My best 
finds were 3 Winter Wrens; 2 Yellow Palm Warblers; a rather pale grayish 
young ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER (in the SE corner of the meadow); and a 
very peculiar looking sparrow.

The last looked quite a bit like a Song Sparrow but it had a dark, 
somewhat rusty, breast with broad blurry streaks (a bit like a young 
Swamp Sparrow); a dark gray face washed with the same rusty color (the 
underlying pattern was like a Song Sparrow: brown crown, a line through 
the eye, dark ear coverts, double mustache); a whitish throat 
contrasting with the face and breast; medium rusty edges to the 
secondaries (not as dark chestnut as a Swamp Sparrow, more like 
White-throated); the nape was blue gray; the upper back was streaked 
with black, chestnut, and whitish buff (like a White-throated); the tail 
was short for a Song Sparrow; the bill was hefty, like a Song Sparrow; 
and the bird was about the size of a Song Sparrow. I had several sparrow 
species for comparison including White-throated, Song, Swamp, and Field. 
My best guess is the bird is a SongXSwamp Sparrow hybrid, but I can't 
completely rule out White-throatedXSong Sparrow (which should not have a 
gray nape, nor a proportionally shorter tail than a Song Sparrow). This 
is the second time I have seen a likely hybrid songbird other than  
Brewster's and Lawrence's warblers (the first was a possible Cape 
MayXBlackpoll decades ago).

Good birding,

Walter Ellison

23460 Clarissa Rd
Chestertown, MD 21620

phone: 410-778-9568

e-mail: rossgull(AT)baybroadband.net

"Nothing is as easy as you would like it to be, and nothing is as hard 
as you might fear"