Hi Eugene,
This sighting of the Green-tailed Towhee with 30 Birders looking for one
smal Bird,remind me of 1993
WOS meeting in WALLA-WALLA on Biscuit Ridge,where Birders lined up to see
the Green-tailed Towhee.You remember that? I never got a real close look at
this bird.Well I got real close on this bird.
I was lucky to watch this Green-tailed towhee in skagitt WRA for over two
hours.I was surprised that this Bird was so tame and let me get so
close.With that many birders you should spread out,the bird was seeing on
the same location sunday and monday also tuesday,when birders found it.
Ruth
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net

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> From: Eugene Hunn <hunnhome at accessone.com>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Green-tailed Towhee at Skagit WMA update
> Date: Sunday, December 14, 1997 11:30 AM
>
> 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