I submit the note below into the fray. A lot of the collection at
Nebraska is quite old and arsenic laden, so I can understand Tom's not
wanting to look at underwings (though the covert questions was clarifies
at little earlier this morning).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Korpi "Under transient skies
Hm: Portland, OR I cannot hobble change,
Wk: Clark College Not now or ever."
Vancouver, WA --William Kloefkorn
rkorpi at clark.edu From _Alvin_Turner_as_Farmer_, #16

Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 13:18:16 -0600 (CST)
From: thomas labedz <tlabedz at unlinfo.unl.edu>
To: Raymond Korpi <rkorpi at clark.edu>
Subject: Re: Chestnut-collared Longspur
>
> A question--a chestnut-colored longspur has shown up in Seattle and there
> is some debate about the sex. The bird is showing some chestnut in the
> nape, but not very bright--have you seen any fall females of this bird
> that show this? People out here are having a long and great debate. The
> bird is also apparently showing white in the underwing coverts, though
> the birds plumage seems to be very transitional. Any thoughts would be
> helpful if you have any. Take care. Ray

We have too few specimens (12) and only 2 of those are females,
and both are spring birds, so I cannot accurately answer you
questions. My instincts tell me that females have some strong buffy
to chestnut in the collar during breeding season but an incomplete,
arrested, or delayed molt might cause some of these feathers to remain
until this time of year. Also, if nape feathers did molt normally
from summer to winter and then some feathers were lost and are now
being replaced would they be replaced with like feathers (i.e. winter)
or with the next normal feather style (i.e. spring/breeding)? See how
much we really don't know about our own (North American) birds. I
have no idea what color the underwing covert should be, all our
specimens have closed wings and I don't want to risk breaking any to
see.


RK here again--The following paragraph from Tom was unsolicited; the
pressure's on guys!!

You might consider trying to contact one of the real bird
experts in the Seattle area for an opinion. I might suggest Dennis
Paulson or Gary Shugart at the Slater Museum in Tacoma.
dpaulson at ups.edu gshugart at ups.edu Another would be Chris Wood at
the Burke Museum in Seattle.
T.E. Labedz tlabedz at unlinfo.unl.edu