Interesting, suspected sub-adult, Rufous-crowned Sparrow

As can be seen in these pics, this sparrow has a reduced amount of rufous/rusty coloration on it's crown (but with a definite black outline next to the rufous/rusty), grayish/brownish supercilium, grayish/buffy underparts (one photo shows some short streaks on the underparts), brownish (light rusty?) post-ocular stripe, some white submoustachial stripe, but with only a hint of a malar stripe and an indistinct eye-ring that is visible on two of the pics.


Though this bird might be mistaken for a sub-adult White-crowned Sparrow, those birds do not have the white submoustachial stripe that shows on this bird to some degree in all three of the photos nor the black outling the more reddish crown. Beadle and Rising's Sparrows of the United States and Canada describes juveniles as follows: "(May-Oct)--Crown brown with brown streaks; side of face brown without distinctive markings but distinct dark brown malar stripe; breast and flanks thinly streaked with dark brown; belly perhaps with some streaking." They describe first fall birds as occurring from June to November and resembling adult birds "but are more buff-colored." The bird I saw clearly is lacking distinct facial markings (though a dull eyeline can be seen in 2 of my photos) and there are short streaks on the underparts visible in one photo. I suspect this is a sub-adult Rufous-crowned Sparrow that may be transitioning from juvenile (with streaked underparts) and first fall/Basic I plumage. SeEtta