Help with a Sparrow please!

[Bluffs Birder]

Hi All,

I saw this little fellow jump up on the edge of the Scarborough Bluffs this morning while birding at Rosetta McClain Gardens in Scarborough.  I looked at the bird with the binoculars and thought it appeared different then other Sparrows that I had seen before so I didn't approach it and just used the zoom on my 3MP digital camera and took these photos.  I figured that I could ID the bird with my books when I got home but I'm still not 100% sure, so please take a look and tell me what you think it is.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37826610@N02/

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Walter   :|

[thouc]

I agree with Grasshopper Sparrow.

/Thomas

[Bluffs Birder]

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for the ID help, I've looked at a couple of hundred photos on Flickr and other photo sites and I'm now 100% sure it's a Grasshopper Sparrow.  Please, anyone care to disagree and suggest something other.

Walter

[Kin Lau]

Grasshopper Sparrow certainly looks good.

Very nice bird for Rosetta/Bluffs.

Did you catch any video of it?

[Bluffs Birder]

Hi Kin,

No, unfortunately I was too focused on just getting atleast one or two decent photos for IDing.  The bird was only up on top of the Bluffs for maybe a minute or so before a jogger scared it over the edge.  It appeared that a Song Sparrow chased the Grasshopper Sparrow away only a few seconds later. The Song Sparrow swooped down from a tree and another Sparrow flew from the Bluffs and headed west as the Song Sparrow returned back up to the tree again.  I waited around for another five minutes or so and didn't see or hear the Grasshopper Sparrow again.

Walter