Lincoln's Sparrow on the Tuolumne River

I still have trouble with sparrows. There are certain ones that I can identify from a distance, the Towhees, the White-crowned, the Golden-crowned, and just a few others. But I've really lagged on learning the others that are closely related and are similar in appearance. But I'm slowly working on it. I was seeing sparrows on my walks on the Tuolumne River that were clearly not the kind I was familiar with, so I kept trying to get pictures. The other day I finally got these and was able to use the streaking on the breast and head stripes to identify it as a Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii). It was pretty close to the spot where I first identified one four years ago.

It's taken me a long time to recognize these birds because they tend to stay near the ground and under cover. They range all the way from Central America to the Arctic Circle in Alaska and Canada.