Just got back from a successful outing in Lorain County at the Charlemont
Reservation.  Since Ethan Kistler found an unusual "Spizella" sparrow at
this preserve a week ago, some interesting developments have taken place.
Originally, this sparrow was thought to be a Clay-colored Sparrow because it
was singing a song almost identical to that of Clay-colored.  Since it was
seen with another bird, two follow up attempts to confirm breeding instead
revealed an inconclusive identity for this bird.  Scope views and digiscoped
photos taken last week hinted at Field Sparrow but by no means represented
either a "classic" Field Sparrow or Clay-colored Sparrow.

Today, I joined up with Andy Jones and we attempted to mist net this sparrow
to sample some of its DNA and we managed to capture and release the bird
unharmed.  Interestingly, it reacted aggressively to playback of both
Clay-colored AND Field Sparrow.  It seemed that it reacted most aggressively
towards Field Sparrow as this was the song that drew it into the net after
just one song broadcast.

Having the bird in the hand was very informative and its plumage
characteristics seem to support our hypothesis that this is a "Clay-colored
X Field" Sparrow hybrid.  As far as we know, there are only two published
instances of hybridization between these two sparrow species.  For those
interested, the link below is a collection of photos of this bird in
addition to a video with a clear recording of its unusual song:

http://picasaweb.google.com/boone70/SpizellaSparrow?authkey=3tHl2xApLRQ



--
Aaron Boone
Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II
School of Environment & Natural Resources
The Ohio State University
210 Kottman Hall
2021 Coffey Road
Columbus, OH 43210-1085
614.247.6458 (office)
www.ohiobirds.org/obba2/

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