Photos from the Central Rockies
WC and his camera are in Idaho. It’s very nearly a vacation. So there will be some Idaho photos for a few days.
Steller’s Jay
The white eye spot means this is likely the Southern Rockies subspecies, Macrolopha, not Alaska’s Stelleri. Both subspecies are handsome, noisy and aggressive.
Just to prove WC will photograph something other than birds, here’s a Least Chipmunk.
Least Chipmunk
At least WC thinks it is a Least. There are 25 species of chipmunks in North America. Who knew?
Finally, here’s a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow.
Juvenile White-crowned Sparrow
It’s probably a different subspecies than we see in Alaska, but identifying subspecies in juvenile plumages is far beyond WC’s skills.
UPDATE: One of WC’s birding buddies, who knows the regional birds better than WC, suggests this is a Song Sparrow. After much study of National Geographic Birds of North America, Sixth Edition, WC has decided . . . he can’t tell. Could be. Juvenile White-crowneds are streaked, perhaps not this heavily. The face is much more like a White-crowned than a Song. WC invites your comments.
There may not be posts every day for a while. There may not be Intertube access every day. We’ll see.
The sparrow’s white sub-moustachial stripe (above the dark malar stripe) but much more diagnostically, its bill, dark both upper and lower, and elongated, strongly suggest song sparrow. Most WCsparrows, juvenile and adult, have a stubbier bill that is pale or yellow – but virtually always light. Your bird also shows little of the normally definite, although not prominent, wing bars carried by most WC sparrows.
Hope you don’t get smoked out by any wildfires down there! Enjoy -
alaskaranger
September 25, 2012 at 9:53 am
Your pictures are, as always, great! Thanks very much for sharing. And at Least you saw a chipmunk! LOL Sorry mate, couldn’t resist
AKdavedownunder (@AKdavedownunder)
September 25, 2012 at 2:30 pm