# Trying to identify So Cal bird

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-so-cal-bird/788825>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 13, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-so-cal-bird/788825 "2017-06-13T00:53:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-so-cal-bird/788825/1 "2017-06-13T00:53:21Z")

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No picture, I can’t find it in my book or online. It may be a common bird that I have never noticed before. Any suggestions I will look up to compare.

Sparrow size bird, slightly thicker and rounder skull, longer beak. Distinctive features are entire head is kind of a dark olive brown, back is several shades lighter, colors are not mottled but fairly pure.

Most distinctive feature and may be the giveaway are the two outside tail feathers are white when it fans out for flight. I believe tail is slightly longer than a sparrow.

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**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-so-cal-bird/788825/2 "2017-06-13T00:57:15Z")

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Can’t recall the breast color with certainty but I am thinking is was light rusty

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**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-so-cal-bird/788825/3 "2017-06-13T01:13:03Z")

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Sounds like a [dark-eyed junco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-eyed_junco).

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**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-so-cal-bird/788825/4 "2017-06-13T01:25:50Z")

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> [@Twoflower](#):
>
> Sounds like a [dark-eyed junco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-eyed_junco).

You got me on the right page, it was the Oregon junco!

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**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-so-cal-bird/788825/5 "2017-06-13T02:02:03Z")

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You must have an oldish bird book. I still think of then as “Oregon” juncos, but the ornithologists have lumped several formerly separate species together under the name “dark-eyed”.

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**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-identify-so-cal-bird/788825/6 "2017-06-13T02:09:12Z")

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> [@Twoflower](#):
>
> You must have an oldish bird book. I still think of then as “Oregon” juncos, but the ornithologists have lumped several formerly separate species together under the name “dark-eyed”.

They mentioned that when I looked it up. I guess there is some debate on the issue.

The last 4 or 5 years I have spotted tons of birds in my neighborhood I have never see here before.