Subject: Re: TWEETERS digest 880
Date: Dec 17 07:37:27 1996
From: Wes Jansen - wjansen at u.washington.edu


After reading this message and others relating to it, I was wondering if
anyone considered the possibility of a female red-winged blackbird. It
certainly has alot of streaking like a finch, is larger than most finches,
and has a prominent eyebrow. Of course, the bill would rule out a finch;
but depending on the light and distance, it's often difficult to see the
bill that well.

wjansen
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On Mon, 16 Dec 1996, Jim P. Flynn wrote:

> Hi Tweets,
>
> Bob Mauritsen posed a question about a mystery bird at
> the Big Ditch Access just S of the Skagit area. Going by his de-
> scription of "first impression a large, plump female house finch"
> and mention of a prominent eyestripe I'd guess it was a female
> Purple Finch. I've seen them at the exact spot he describes. They're
> fond of the tiny fruit of the Pacific Crabapple trees (erroneously
> reported as Hawthorns by the person who saw the Bohemian Waxwings
> there) and the finches calmly sit and munch away.
> At the end of that trail where it meets the bay was a
> Swamp Sparrow on Sunday. Finding it was a real thrill as it was
> the first I've seen in Washington after many attempts at chasing
> other's finds. I had a good although brief (approx 25 seconds) look
> at it before it flew into the marsh. No amount of pishing could make
> it come out for my friend Scott to see. I felt a little bad for
> him as I certainly know the feeling of having just missed a bird.
> We made up for it though by finding the Waterthrush at the Skagit
> WRA and watching it in the scope for as long as we wanted. It
> was certainly more of a show than I'd expected from the normally
> reticent little guy. It pays to get out of bed in the morning
> I guess, you never know which days are gonna be the lucky ones.
>
> Jim Flynn
> Renton, WA
> bf519 at scn.org
>