> On Saturday, Nov. 9, I spent some time on Sauvie Island while in
>Portland on other business. About noon the fog burned off and Wilson Cady
>relocated the tropical kingbird. It was along a driveway just south of the
>house
>with a Vetch Dairy mailbox on Reeder Rd. One observation puzzled me. When
>oriented a certain way with respect to the sun, the tip of the tail showed some
>yellow. This was a very thin line, not a broader band like in waxwing. The
>NG guide shows tails of this and related kingbirds but does not indicate this
>marking. Anybody know about this?
>Bob Vandenbosch

Fresh tail feathers of lots of birds often show very fine pale tips that
can be quite visible with backlighting. But I don't know if this
generality applies to Tropical Kingbirds.

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
web site: http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html