Don wrote:

>In an effort to turn this into an on-topic post, let me note
>that I was entertained by my favorite song of the sage country
>for hours on end, just fifty or so feet from where I was parked.
>A Sage Thrasher had taken up residence nearby and was using the
>high posts of a roadside cattle chute to sing from. What else does
>one need on a fine spring day?

I agree that Sage Thrashers make solitary sagebrush sojourns superlative.
There have been times in my experience--even at midday, as Don wrote--when
the chorus of Sage Thrashers coming from all sides seemed deafening. They
are songsters par excellence, nonpareil, and tres magnifique (where's Serge
when I need him?). And their flight displays while singing are
breathtaking. They are, also, fortunately still abundant in most extensive
tracts of sagebrush in this region.

How about single-species field trips? An Audubon or WOS or OFO or BCFO
field trip just to appreciate and learn about a single species of bird?
Just think of now neat it would be if there were a Sage Thrasher
Subcommittee in each of these groups, committed to learning about this
species in the state or province or county (right now the respective
wildlife departments do this sort of thing, but only with "special-concern"
species, and they are always understaffed). Or a group devoted to pipits
(not Red-throated, but the common species) or flickers. There's so much to
learn, so little time before the Earth becomes paved. Sorry, my work ethic
kicks in at times like this, but I don't see why this kind of birding
couldn't be FUN, just as going after a big species list is. I mean, if
pulling loosestrife for a few hours can be considered fun, why not watching
Sage Thrashers, or the species of your choice?

Dennis Paulson, Director 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