Hey all, I thought I'd throw in a quick comment on the Rufous-collared Sparrow in Georgetown. As far as singing behavior goes, I find the claim that this is the time of year one would expect it to be singing to be a rather useless point - I can say from personal experience that this species sings all year. In Quito, where I live and Rufous-collared Sparrow is abundant, I have heard the species sing every month of the year. I have also seen the species in ten different countries, and have never had a trip into its range when I did not encounter singing birds. And these trips also span every month of the year. Checking xeno-canto also shows recordings from all times of the year.
As far as looks of the bird go, from what I can see in the photos the bird looks like the typical forms from most of their range, and not the types found in Chile and Argentina, which have much more gray in the head. And finally, I personally believe that it is highly unlikely that the bird is a wild vagrant, and that the null hypothesis should reflect this. Most tropical species vagrate very little, and I have never seen or heard of anyone seeing vagrant Rufous-collared Sparrows even a few miles from their normal range in Ecuador. Just my two cents worth, Andrew Spencer Quito, Ecuador Sent from my BlackBerry -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
