Dear Tweeters,

I received the following message from a friend I visited in Japan this

past summer. I had forwarded to her the message from Hidenori Mitsui

yesterday. I thought perhaps someone could interpret her encounter with bird

tracks. Sounds like the bird in question flapped a few short hops, then took

off. My friend is located in Akita Prefecture in northern Japan near the Sea

of Japan.



Thanks,



Michael Brown

mbeb1215 at delphi.com

Puyallup, WA





Date: Sat, 31 Dec 1994 14:50:00 +0900

From: SGU02525 at niftyserve.or.jp

Subject: woozle hunting?

To: MBEB1215 at delphi.com

Message-id: <199412310556.OAA28131 at inetnif.niftyserve.or.jp>

Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT



Sat., last day of 1994



Thanks for the field guide info. Will try to get hold of the waterfowl

guide.



Today, i've seen very little -- bulbul and crows. Yesterday, i also

saw a flock of tits. Some were greats, but on others, i couldn't see

any chest stripe and was almost sure it wasn't there, which would

mean they were probably coal tits. They were flying with the greats,

though. I haven't see any dusky thrushes yet this year. Saw lots last

year, but i don't remember when. Of course, i couldn't've seen them

till at least mid-Feb.



Also yesterday, i saw what looked like fowl tracks. They were almost

perfect arrows, about 2 inches long. I was wondering if a pheasant

had passed by, but: (1) Where would it have gone? The snow (and

therefore the tracks) ended a few feet from the edge of the hill; the

road was maybe 10 or 20 feet below; (2) at first, the tracks (?) were

close together, but they got further and further apart, up to 3 or 4

feet; so, unless there were 2, it couldn't have been a bird at all, right?

So what would it be? Kids playing?