I had a similar experience some years back in Yosemite where three of us
self-styled experts were arguing about whether the woodpecker on the snag
in front of us was a Black-backed, Williamson's Sapsucker, or Hairy. It
turned out that there were THREE woodpeckers on the snag and we were all
right!

Gene Hunn.

On Tue, 5 Dec 1995, Wes Jansen wrote:

> This brings to mind one winter afternoon at the Skagit Flats when
> my wife and I got into quite a discussion about a woodpecker. I
> have this habbit of describing what I'm seeing as I view a
> bird--'the whole head is red--like a hood...there seems to be
> definite ring around the eye, etc." On this occassion, I saw the
> whole head as red, but my wife only noticed red on top--thus she
> thought it was a Downy while I thought (wished?) it to be a Red
> Breasted Sapsucker. To this day it was a sapsucker to me and a
> downy to her! We just don't discuss it anymore.
> wjansen
>