Tweeters -

Someone must have left an aviary door open in the Renton area. I got a
call about 10 minutes ago from a colleague to "come see this weird bird"
in one of the trees at the Renton Boeing plant. I got there and what
was in the pine grove where I'd normally find Townsends Warblers, but a
Hoopoe (Upupa epops).

The bird is banded - blue left, red over white right, but I didn't have
optics to get a close look at coding. I watched for maybe 2 minutes
before he took off west, headed toward the Renton Muni Airport/Skyway
area, flying VERY well. I had someone tell me they were sure they saw 2
Wood Pigeons (Columba palumbus) at Coulon Park yesterday, and I
dismissed it - now I think maybe they did, the description was certainly
right; I'll check later this afternoon. What's next, Pochard in Lake
Washington?...but then Ruth Sullivan already has hers in Tacoma!!

So, a heads up to everyone - looks like someone left a door open
somewhere, either by mistake or on purpose. Zookeepers and aviary
owners, any clues?

Rob Conway
Bellevue, WA

robin_conway at hotmail.com

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