Help Identifying Birds in Maryland

by Melissa
(Lanham, Maryland)

A friend at work is a birder. She had her Sibley's book out trying to figure out what kind of bird this is, but can't find anything similar. At first, she thought it was a sparrow, since it was hanging out with them, but she has never seen a crested sparrow before. Then she thought it was a flycatcher.

She thinks both birds in the photos are the same, one male and one female. They both have the same markings on their wings.

They are eating seeds.

At first thought it was a fluke, but have seen many of these in the past few days.

Someone said maybe the wind is just blowing the feathers around the nape which makes them appear "crested".

Any thoughts?