You're right on with the warbler IDs. The sparrow is a Song Sparrow. Nice bunch of yard birds. -O-

It looks like a Lincolns Sparrow to me, I had one visit me last year. Cute bird. Donna

Thanks! I see adult Song Sparrows often, mostly in the winter, but I'd never seen a fledgling until the other day when I saw the adult feeding the baby. Usually in the summer the sparrows stay out of sight. I hope that little thing gets more wary before a hawk sees it. Claire

Yes, guides with arrows pointing to field marks aren't the ultimate in identification. Guides with notes about other birds with similar characteristics and then explanations about what to look for the tell the two apart are helpful. I have found that in most cases where IDs are difficult it's really beneficial to research more than one resource. We really have some tools now that weren't commonly available even fifteen years ago and that's access to the internet and cheaper digital cameras. I keep a digital right by the regular birding window. I take rapid frames of the birds in question from as many angles as I can. Sometimes you don't have time to focus and be fussy. Getting a less than perfect picture is not always a failure. If it helps you to catch the target sitting next to a known bird, immediately you have a handle on size. I also prefer real photographs I find on this forum, because painted representations just leave too much to artistic license. LOL. I sometimes wonder how many really cool sparrows I missed by logging them as something common? So many folks just causally dismiss them because they look similar. This is where you sometimes find your lifers! Keep a notepad handy to your observation station to mark down anything you notice on field marks. I have a good memory but the image in the brain can play tricks on you quickly. Draw a pic if you must, and try to catch some photos. Document, document and document.