On Mon, 23 Sep 1996 "Susan L. Collicott" <camel at itchy.serv.net> writes:
>
>Tweets -
>
>A coworker saw the following bird at her mixed-seed feeder (in Juanita),

>and I can't help her with the identification. She says she's never seen

>anything like it before, and she's lived here for 30 years or more.
>Beak - distinctly pointed, thin, "stuck on the front of the face",
rather
>than looking like a cohesive part of the head
>Tail - short, "stubby"
>Coloration - white from beak to tail (she thinks) underneath, light tan
>on top, no streaking/mottling. Black streak on face (perhaps from eyes
>back, or cheeks back). She didn't get a good look at the wings.
>Behavior - hoppy, skittish, wouldn't stay still even while feeding at
feeder ("kept pushing seeds off the feeder - argh!")
>
>Size - 4-5" from beak to tail, round and chubby.

I put the above information into the search area of my Audubon Society
CD Rom, i. e. White, tan and black, a perching bird 0 to 6" in
Washington State in Fall, and the only picture that looked even close to
what you described was a Clay Colored Sparrow, although their picture in
my Petersons guide looks nothing like the Audubon picture. No news there.


I'm not implying that that's what your friend saw, I'm more curious if
anyone else has used any of the CD Roms out there? Audubon's, Peterson's,
I'm not sure what else is out there. Any comments?