Morning Bird Pic

[sleigh]

Morning bird pic: For this one, I'm turning to the Great Hive Mind. I can't seem to accurately identify the mostly-black- and-white bird to the right in the first picture (there's a second picture of just that bird). It would seem to be some species of sparrow, but neither my Bird ID app nor my "Birds of Ohio" book appear to show me exactly which one. So... someone out there know?

For what it's worth, the cap on the bird's head looks to be not black but a rusty brown, even though the rest of it is really grayish, not brownish like a house sparrow.

I have the suspicion that someone's going to say "You idjit, that's obviously a _____________."

Comments

[maiac.livejournal.com]

It looks more like a Chipping Sparrow (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chipping_Sparrow/id). The Long Tailed Titmouse isn't a North American bird.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

I agree with Maia that it's probably not a long-tailed titmouse. All the North American titmice (titmouse's?) on the Cornell University Ornithology page (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search) have a distinct crest, and none have the same markings.

But I'm not sure about the Chipping Sparrow. The cap *is* rufous, and there is the black stripe through the eye and the gray breast, but on this bird, the wings and back look more gray than brown... but maybe it's a seasonal/gender variation.