Cassin's Sparrow
Peucaea cassinii
The sparrow has a long tail, gray-brown with white corners, and has dark marks on the back and sides. The species resembles Botteri's sparrow because of its size and marks, but Botteri's sparrow is a weaker shade of gray. The best way to tell the differences between the two is the song of Cassin's sparrow. Both the males and females are the same shade of gray and are 5 to 6 inches, although males are bigger. The Cassin's sparrow is a fairly large, plain, grayish sparrow that lacks conspicuous markings. Voice: The sparrow's song sounds like titi-trrrrrrrrrrr, tyew tyew. Only the males sing and the males are known for flying in the air and gliding down while singing which is called "skylarking". Males of the species are one of only a few sparrows known to skylark.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Rufous-winged Sparrow
Peucaea carpalis
The rufous-winged sparrow is about 15 cm (6 in) long and weighs about 12 to 17 g (0.42 to 0.60 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have two wide rufous streaks with a thin grayish line between them on the crown. They have whitish lores that become a wide grayish supercilium, a indistinct whitish eye-ring, a rufous stripe behind the eye, and grayish ear coverts with a black stripe below them. Their nape has a grayish collar that the rufous streaks intrude into. Their upperparts are brownish gray with rufous-edged dark brown streaks on the back and scapulars. Voice: Only male rufous-winged sparrows sing. They sing year-round but more frequently in the breeding season, and mostly in the morning. The species' primary song is highly variable and generally begins with introductory notes followed by a trill. One description is "an accelerating series of chips and a few chips followed by a rapid trill". The species' calls include "tzeet, tzlip, and pip" notes.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Where you might meet both
Learn this pair in the BeakBrain App
Photo and call practice. Coming soon to iPhone and Android.
Play today's Daily BirdPhotos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Cassin's Sparrow and Rufous-winged Sparrow.