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Bird ID Help



I was hoping someone could help me with a bird ID.  I was at Saluda Shoals
Park(Columbia) this morning and saw a bird in a wet section of narrow power
line field that I am not sure of an ID.  It was initially in the tall grass,
amongst numerous sparrows.  My initial thought upon seeing the bird was a
female indigo/painted bunting.  The bird had a thick beak, and was solid
drab light olive/brown (I am fairly color blind so consider a wide range of
possibilities here).  No evidence of any streaking or color change anywhere
except the wings, which showed slightly darker, with possibly slight
evidence of wing-bars, although this was not a clear marking and may have
just been seeing light reflections.  The bird had what I would best describe
as solid dark gray underside of the tail.  The tail was not especially long,
and was a rounded "W" shape when viewed from underneath.  The bird
continually pumped its tail.  It wasn't the up and down motion seen in Palm
Warblers but rather a side to side, even circular motion, with occasional
slight fanning of the tail during the motion.  As I have said, I initially
thought female bunting of some type, but what threw me off this was that I
saw this bird about a foot away from a swamp sparrow in the same little weed
patch, and the bird was nearly 1.5 times as long as the swamp sparrow.  I
followed the bird through the grass and it eventually went up into the trees
along the edge of the power lines.  The bird had a "chip" type call, what
seemed to me to be a little softer and less musical than a cardinal.  Given
the time of year, the possibilities seem limited and I had considered a
female cardinal missing crest feathers, but a number of the field markings
seem to contradict this.  I have gone through what I guess are the other
possibilities: buntings, grosbeaks, tanagers, but none seem to be definitive
match to what I observed.  In the books I have, I didn't see any reference
to tail pumping on any of these species and don't seem to remember it in any
previous, more obvious sightings of these birds.  The good news is that this
bird was very tolerant of my presence and not very fidgety so I was able to
get numerous photos.  The bad news is I have slide film in my camera and
will be a while before I can get it processed.  So in the meantime, if you
have any suggestions to the ID of this bird I would appreciate it.

Steve Tracey
Columbia, SC