At 12:21 PM 12/11/95 -0800, you wrote:
>I just re-examined our Slater Museum longspurs, and I find that 2 of our 5
>breeding females have (1) a lot of black on the underparts, (2) a
>distinctly chestnut nape, and (3) white tips to the outermost lesser wing
>coverts. Either both are mis-sexed, which, as I said before, seems
>unlikely in breeding-season birds, or there is a lot more variation in
>females than Pyle et al. in their Handbook of North American Passerines
>imply. However, Oberholser, in Bird Life of Texas, also makes no mention
>of females having any of these 3 male-like characteristics, so I'm left at
>a bit of a loss. Oberholser does state that immature males have less white
>on the lesser coverts than adults--probably none in first-winter birds. I
>suspect the white on the lesser coverts is invisible when the wing is
>folded.
>

My vote is for a skilled someone to capture this bird and determine its sex
despite resistance from some quarters. Apparently some believe that in the
case of CCLO, capture is only ethical in their 'normal' range. What
difference does it make where the bird is found?

If captured and sexed the resulting data would indeed be of value to science
judging from Dennis' comments.



_____________________________________________________________________________
Scott Ray Washington Birder Newsletter
Yakima, WA PO Box 191
email: scray at wolfenet.com Moxee, WA 98936
http://www.wolfenet.com/~scray/