White-crowned Sparrow (immature)

Our relatively mild winter climate makes Oregon's Willamette Valley a good place for sparrow-watching at this time of the year. Today this immature White-crowned Sparrow found a sunny perch at the top of a blackberry tangle from which to look back at me. This individual might have been hatched nearby last summer, but he might also be one of those White-crowns that migrate south from Washington or Canada.