[SBB] local Savannah Sparrows query, and Red-breasted Nuthatch in yard

["Tom Grey" <[[email protected]]>]

Where are we with classification of SAVANNAH SPARROWS found locally? Here
is a 1996 exchange on the subject I found via Google between James Rising
and Steve Rottenborn back in 1996:
http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9610b&L=birdchat&F=&S=&P=7734

I'm stimulated to ask by a SASP picture I took yesterday at the Shoreline
Amphitheater overflow parking lot. This is a "typical" or "grassland" SASP,
right?
http://www.pbase.com/tgrey/image/50799522

Are the "typical" SASPs found near the Bay winter residents only? Do we
have year-round (nesting) "typicals" up in the foothills?

By contrast, here's what I understand to be one of our resident saltmarsh
types:
http://www.pbase.com/tgrey/image/32810299

I labeled that one a "Belding's," following the Rising sparrow book. But I
see that other books, and the BNA Savannah article,  say that Belding's
extends no further north than Morro Bay. If Belding's is a candidate for
species status, this may be of general interest to local birders.

By the way, I currently have a rarity for me  -- a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH in
my yard near the south side of the Stanford campus. I hardly ever see these
on the campus.
http://www.pbase.com/tgrey/image/50817923

Tom Grey



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