Prominent white eye arcs, broken by the dark line through the eye on the Chipping Sparrow on the left
and the "open faced" look on the Clay-colored Sparrow from the lack of the eye arcs and dark eye line on the right.
"Click" on any image for a larger photo..
I've always had a hard time with Chipping Sparrows that are a bit paler than the norm but this field mark should help with that! Thanks very much for pointing it out David!
Here's both birds as seen in the field. Chipping Sparrow, Salisbury Beach SR - Oct. 17, 2011
Clay-colored Sparrow - Wardens, Parker River NWR - May 14, 2011
As other have stated, MassBird with all of the folks that continually contribute is a fabulous resource that I and thousands of others greatly enjoy and appreciate on a daily basis.
I find the border to the cheek patch useful: dark border on Clay-colored which causes contrast between mustache and cheek isolating the cheek while the lack of one on Chipping causes a blending of those two areas and the cheek is not as bold. The above images show this.
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