McCown's Longspur - Lawrence Park Collegiate - Toronto

[gregp]

A McCown's longspur in a variable sized flock of 30 to 50 house sparrows.  On the baseball fields.  Was there at noon on September 4 and at 5pm on September 6.  The flock spends its time in the weeds on the baseball diamonds behind Lawrence Park Collegiate particularly in the weeds covering the field between the portable and the outdoor rinks/tennis courts.  Access by travelling East on Lawrence Ave past Avenue Road, turn right (south) on Rosewell, past the new condos/apartments to the roundabout.  Exit the roundabout to the left into the fenced parking enclosure by the ice rinks/tennis courts.  The flock seems to spend its time on the baseball fields or in the shrubs/vines and fence where the parking fence separating the parking from the baseball fields joins the fence around the rinks.  There is no problem parking in the lot outside of school hours.  If full you can probably park on the street.  It won't take long to find the bird if its there.

The longspur stands out clearly among the house sparrows.  It is much lighter in colour and has a leaner look.  The tail markings are easily seen when flying.  Bill is a similar size to the houses sparrows.  It has some brown on the wings - perhaps a non breeding male?  Any one familiar with Longspurs care to comment?

[Pat Hodgson]

This species has never been observed in Toronto before.  Get a photo and/or consider alternative ID's.

[gregp]

I have a telephoto.  I'll try this evening.
Any suggestions?  I went through Sibleys, Petersons and National Geographic field guides.  The tail marking seems quite distinctive.  The size bill shape  and breast seemed appropriate.  I couldn't really tell what colour the bill was (not black or yellow anyway).  The shoulder of the wing was the only thing that looked odd  - a kind of brown and white mottling.  I assumed it was changing from breeding plumage.  Anwyay, I'll see if I can get a photo.

[Pat Hodgson]

If by tail markings you mean white areas in the tail, it is not terribly unusual for birds of many species to have white patches in unexpectated areas due to partial albinism.  Given that it is with house sparrows, the obvious alternative to consider is that it is a house sparrow with some extra white on it.

Also I've always felt that McCown's longspur is the one bird I'd pick that is least well portrayed in field guides - at least on the breeding male, what looks gray in the book is nearly silver in life.

[gregp]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I had assumed that McCown's Longspurs would be occasional visitors to Ontario.  If I had realized how rare they were in Ontario I wouldn't have posted the report.  Are there any dead give away markings for a partial albino?  Pink eyes?  

The colour was more a very pale cream (possbily yellow tinged) than white .  Maybe just a dirty Albino?  Also the tail marking seemed quite regular - prominent triangles on each side with just a quite narrow line down the middle separating the two triangles (as opposed to lots of birds with just the outer feathers white or smaller triangles.  Would you expect an Albino's tail to be all white? If so, I'll see if the line I saw in the middle is just a missing feather or something.

Anyway, I'll see if I can track the bird down again and get some pictures (easier said than done - the flock was a little skittish).

[Pat Hodgson]

Partial albinos do not have pink eyes, they just have some white feathers in unexpected places.  Often the white is not symmetrical, but sometimes it is.  I understand why this one would make you wonder.  Don't feel bad about posting - a) you may still be right and b) this way we all get to learn something.  But maybe if ID is uncertain use the ID section of the board instead of the reports area.

[David Shilman]

I visited the area yesterday and was unsuccessful.  I did see a flock of about 30 House Sparrows, but there was nothing unusual among them.

Yes, don't feel bad about posting.  There is always a first time.  As a friend of mine likes to say, "birds DO have wings".

David