Thanks Joe! Genetics are pretty interesting. They certainly look like House Sparrows. Ann Johnson Norwalk, IA
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thamnophis Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 4:27 PM To: IA-BIRD Cc: IA-BIRD Subject: [ia-bird] Re: 4 Snow Buntings--Ames--photographer needed Here is a link to a couple photos. They are certainly pretty birds - their white wings in flight. https://picasaweb.google.com/thamnophis/Sparrow# Joe On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:17 AM, Jim Murdock <[email protected]> wrote: > Joe Monahan he has taken photographs of the reported "snow buntings" > and will post them soon. He thinks that they are the young of a > family of House Sparrows that apparently share similar mutations. > Another idea suggested to me was that they could be released exotic > finches. I found some pictures of Society Finches that come close, > but not close enough (and most Society Finches were quite different). > For one thing the beak color on all the Society Finches was totally > wrong. > > In any case the birds are not snow buntings, which seemed impossible > from the beginning because of the date, their behavior, and the fact > that they would have had to be in winter plumage. > ------------------------- > Jim Murdock > Dept. of Mathematics (emeritus) > Iowa State University > Ames, IA 50011 > [email protected] or [email protected] > > > > On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 11:06 AM, Jim Murdock <[email protected]> wrote: >> A friend took me this morning to her neighbor's yard in Ames where >> she said there had been four snow buntings for some time (I think she >> said two weeks). I saw two of the birds (not at the same time, but >> they looked slightly different). I'll describe them below. My >> friend will ask the neighbors if they will give permission for a >> photographer to come. If this is as unusual as it seems, there >> should be a record of it. I will reveal the address to the first >> Ames (or nearby) birder with a good camera who contacts me, if the permission is given. >> >> The birds I saw seemed to be in winter plumage according to the >> pictures in Kaufman. (I have not had time to check Sibley or other >> books.) Beak was orange and conical, thick at the base like the >> summer male in Kaufman (but the summer male's beak is black). Head >> was mostly light brown with an indistinct white eye line. Back was >> light brown on one bird, light brown at the top and white below on >> the other. Wings were light brown with large white patch. >> Undersides were white. Tail was white on the edges, and I did not >> get a good look at the center feathers. One was eating sunflower >> seeds that had been scattered on the ground. One was perched in a >> bush near a House Sparrow. The question of a partially albino House >> Sparrow or other species seems to be ruled out by the reported presence of four birds. >> ------------------------- >> Jim Murdock >> Dept. of Mathematics (emeritus) >> Iowa State University >> Ames, IA 50011 >> [email protected] or [email protected] --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/membership.asp. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
