As a self-elected watchdog of the ornithological scene, I'm forced
(arggghh, stop twisting my arm....) to comment on this sentence from a
recent posting about the Skagit Flats:

"Large flocks of sparrows were everywhere in the brambly field margins,
those we observed contained ubiquitous song sparrows along with good
numbers of chipping sparrows and a few Lincoln's and golden-crowned
sparrows."

A chipping sparrow would be a very unusual find on the Skagit Flats in
winter (or at any time of year, for that matter). I wonder if those
chipping sparrows could have been immature white-crowns?

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416