Yellow-Throated Sparrow

At Keoladeo NP in India with our guide, Ashok, I kept a list of the birds we were seeing. As I got home and was reviewing my photos I couldn't find the yellow-throated sparrow photos. I looked through my photos completely, several times, and couldn't find them. I finally got to a group of photos of the rose-ringed parakeet up in a dead tree and noticed some small birds off to one side. I focused on those small birds, cropping the photos and zooming in as much as I could. Lo and behold, there they were - yellow-throated sparrows. 

Wikipedia notes that the white double wing bar is diagnostic on the otherwise dull gray-brown sparrow. Males have a chestnut shoulder patch which can sometimes be hard to see, just above the top white wing bar. I believe this photo shows it. Thus the alternate name of chestnut-shouldered petronia. 

 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. Note the small yellow section on the throat. 

Ashok noted that it is also known as the chestnut-shouldered petronia. Wikipedia states that they are often atop bare branches on trees while calling. Bingo. They have a pale yellow spot on the throat in fresh plumage. the yellow spot is much reduced or absent in females. Females do not have the chestnut shoulder patch. There are two ssp. We saw the nominate ssp. xanthocollis, found in India, northern Pakistan and north-eastern Afghanistan. 

Range from Birds of the World.