On January 10, Erica Rutherford, John Colbert, and Colin McGregor reported two Sage sparrows on Byron Hot Springs Rd off Holey Road southwest of Byron. Srikant Char forwarded me the photos yesterday evening and I went to investigate this morning. The two birds look like very good candidates for Sagebrush sparrow in my opinion, however I don’t have much experience with this species and telling it from canescens Bells Sparrow. The GPS for the birds is approximately (37.8201389, -121.6175000). There is a dry wash northwest of the road here filled with what I suspect is iodine bush that they like. But please do not quote me on the plant identification!!!!!
I will reach out to experts that have more experience with this ID than I do so please know that no matter how you put this into eBird, either as a slash or as a Sagebrush, I may ask you to change your entry. Although preliminary feedback is good for Sagebrush Sparrow.
There is likely one prior county record. A bird found by Kevin Hintsa on January 13, 1981 and was last seen, as far as I know, on February 1, 1981 in what is now Bishop Ranch in San Ramon and was then an empty field of Yellow Star Thistle. It was identified at the time to be a migratory race of Sage sparrow, as this was prior to the split. Last I looked at Kevin‘s notes, I thought they were quite good for Sagebrush sparrow but last I talked to Kevin my recollection (perhaps faulty) is that he did not feel confident eliminating canescens bell sparrow. But I would consider it likely that there is one prior county record.
Congratulations on the nice find Erica, John and Colin.
