Zonotrichia albicollis

Which is a fancy way of naming this plump winter sparrow, more commonly called White-throated Sparrow.

I went with the Latin name for the simple reason that when I was in Costa Rica I saw a sparrow that reminded me very much of our White-throats.  The sparrow in CR was quickly identified as a Rufous-collared Sparrow.  Once home, I had to look it up just to see if it was related to our white-throats...and it is.  It is one of five species in the Genus Zonotrichia, or crowned sparrows.  Of the five, four are found in N. America with just the Rufous-Collared being found in Mexico and Central America.  

Just for fun, I've posted a photo of the Rufous-collared HERE on Flickr - you can see how similar they are.  

Still much snow on the ground so I am very happy to stay inside and continue to edit photos from my trip.  Only one more day to go...

xo
Debbi