On July 12 about 9:15 at the Laurelhurst end of the Wahkiakum trail
across the Montlake fill, I saw a very strange bird. It landed in the
first tree on the south side of the trail and sat calmly preening
itself while I watched. It had a vivid red head, and probably a thick
beak like a finch, and a very limited black facial area right around
the beak. It had no crest, so it wasn't a cardinal (I've never seen a
cardinal here anyway). As it preened, the feathers seemed very soft,
like fur, and at the roots they were yellow. The most remarkable part
was the breast, which was brilliantly and completely black. When the
bird finally turned away I could see that the feathers at the leading
edge of the wing were tan, but the rest of the wing, and the back,
were red, although perhaps not as brilliant as the face.

I cannot find anything like this in the North American bird books. Was
it a tropical bird escaped from its cage in someone's home? Was it a
rare or very lost migrant? It might have been a vision, since I had
just received news of a death in my family.... But I was walking with
a companion, a mathematician, who saw the same thing. It's the only
"new-to-me" bird I have seen for the summer at Montlake, and I saw it
only once. Ideas?

--Mark Dubach