I have been trying hard to identify a fledgling songbird I saw yesterday morning, after non-Birder neighbors alerted me to its presence down the road from my house. It was perched on a branch in a pile of sticks on ground. They had first seen it IN the road & stood by it to make an oncoming car not hit it. By time we got back there again, it had apparently flown up to its branch off road a couple feet.
It's back and wings were predominately Slaty gray, not brown or Rusty. I think it might have wing bars. It's breast & belly were plain whitish with no stripes that I noticed. (I did not have phone so could not take photo) It's head had three distinct white lines (similar in layout to one of those slotted bicycle helmets), 1 line down center of head, & with a white line over each eye. and these three white lines were separated by black lines. Very distinct lines. Small beak. As the neighbors & I stood aways away watching it to see if it was OK, it & a parent we could not see above us in mature deciduous trees made calls to each other that sounded a little like 'toots'. It didn't sound like the thin, squeaky wheelbarrow sound of a Black & White Warbler. It didn't LOOK like juveniles of White Throated or White Crowned Sparrows in my Sibley guide or my Audubon phone app, or iBird Pro. Altho I thought the sounds the fledgling & parent made sounded a little more full-bodied like the tone of 1 of those 2 sparrows. Anybody have a guess as to what species this little bird is? Is it one of those sparrows? I went right home to get binocs & went back intending to wait nearby to try & see adult coming down to the baby, but it must have tried its wings again & disappeared into the woods. I could not find it anywhere. Help! Donna Scott Lansing Station Road by Cayuga Lake Sent from my iPhone -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
