The sketch to which Craig refers is temporarily archived at:
http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/archive/bird.JPG

The description mentions that the observer imitated the call.
It would be useful to know what that call was, but I think
this is a green-tailed towhee.

I am wildly speculating now, and hope that the observer will not
be offended... The sketch was obviously not done in the field and
(I'm guessing) the observer used a drawing on a bluebird as reference
for the body shape. We have been primed by suggestion to think about
strange thrushes. The sketch further re-enforces thrushy thoughts,
but if you squint...

Craig Corder wrote:
>
> Mike & Birders:
>
> Attached is a sketch of a strange bird that showed up in Wallowa County on
> Nov 13, 1998 & is evidently gone. The observer is a wildlife biologist who
> is familiar with the local birds & is known as a good observer.
>
> Written comments were:
> "My very first thought on seeing this fellow was "Oh! Townsend's
> Solitaire" but closer examination revealed more details: Red crown, orange
> yellow (egg yolkish) throat, slightly round fork in tail, white line under
> the eye, two white wing bars, Bluebird body, about the size of a towhee."
>
> "I saw the bird in the head of Cottonwood Creek, in an old burn (10 to 15
> years old). It was flitting around in an Elderberry bush on an open side
> hill. He seemed very agitated and responded very ardently to my imitation
> of his call. There was a foot of snow on the ground."
>
> Please note that the sketch does not have wingbars & evidently should.
>
> Mike, please do with this as you see fit. Sorry I haven't gotten around to
> getting a homepage. Soon!
>
> Thanks & Good Birding,
> Craig Corder
> Hermiston, Oregon, USA
> Umatilla County in north/central/eastern Oregon
> ccorder at eoni.com
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

--
Mike Patterson "Change comes one funeral at a time"
Astoria, OR Doc Hatfield-in response to the question: Why
mpatters at orednet.org don't more cattlemen choose to use a proven
method of range management that is more
economically AND environmentally sound.

http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html