Subject: Green-tailed Towhee at Skagit WMA update
Date: Dec 14 11:30:06 1997
From: Eugene Hunn - hunnhome at accessone.com


Tweets,

It was a fine morning at the Skagit WMA dike [Saturday, December 13] despite
echos of artillery in the distance and occasional platoons of military-drab
commandos heading for the front. As "the rosy fingers of dawn stole across
the eastern sky," lines of calling Tundra Swans passed over. George Gerdts
and I found Bruce LeBar already scoping the brushlines, but sparrows were
hard to come by in the shadows, especially after repeated passes by two
Sharpies, a Cooper's, and a Merlin urged caution. By 9 AM we had found one
adult White-throated Sparrow, an American Tree Sparrow, and a few Savannah's
amongst the hordes of Dark-eyed Juncos, Song Sparrows, and clumps of
White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows. By then we were joined by Brian
Bell's Seattle Audubon field trip and Bob Sundstrom's Seattle Audubon water
birds class (the Green-tailed Towhee is a waterbird?) and a number of
unaffiliated local birders. We all stood and stared at the spot the
Green-tailed Towhee had last been seen for about an hour, then drifted off
in hopes of better luck. Sundstrom's tip produced a flock of at least six
American Tree Sparrows back along the hedgerow, and we dug out a couple of
Lincoln's Sparrows dzitting in the brush. By then the morning hordes (of
birders, that is) had thinned, having appointments to keep elsewhere, but a
mid-day contingent began to arrive, including Keith and Jan Wiggers, who led
us back once more to the spot where they had seen the towhee the day before
(where 30 of us had recently spent a pleasant, if unproductive, hour). While
standing about waiting for lightning to strike (from a clear and sunny sky),
we located another flock of three tree sparrows (for a total of 10!), and
the elusive Harris's Sparrow [note the extra "s"]. Finally, after five hours
of sparrowing, the Green-tailed Towhee appeared and set to feeding
contentedly along the hedgerow by the "island" of Spiraea Richard Rowlett
described last weekend. Presumably it was there all along. Suggesting that
rare "sparrows" might be quite site specific. If they don't show, likely
they are contentedly foraging within the impenetrable thickets rather than
off 300 meters on an explore. By my rough count, within the confines of the
stubble-fields west from the Skagit boat launch parking lot:

Green-tailed Towhee 1
Spotted Towhee 15
American Tree Sparrow 10
Savannah Sparrow 10
[Dusky] Fox Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 40
Lincoln's Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 2
Golden-crowned Sparrow 10
White-crowned Sparrow 30 [gambeli song noted]
Harris's Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco [Oregon] 300 [including the leucistic individual]
Dark-eyed Junco [Slate-colored] 1
*House Sparrow 2 [what's it doing in this list?]

Gene Hunn, Seattle, hunnhome at accessone.com