Posted by Phil Pickering (208.46.229.94) on May 25, 2002 at 14:20:40:
Good points by Kristie. I was struggling from the start with the only partly-white outermost rectrice. I took the time to look closely, and it certainly does look like the white could be entirely due to translucency combined with strong back lighting.
The juvenile Black-chinned Sparrow theory would potentially explain a lot - like the eye arcs, darkish feet, and the BEGGING posture I totally ignored at first look.
Cheers,
Phil