Subject: Bird ID help, please
Date: Oct 17 00:38:09 1998
From: DShepgolf at aol.com - DShepgolf at aol.com


Hi folks -

I'm a pretty new birder and am looking for some help on a bird I saw yesterday
here in Seattle. I'm on the only person who saw it and have nagging doubts
I've ID'd it correctly. When the rains stopped around dusk, a number of birds
came into my backyard. Among them, a flock of 15 or so robins and 1 varied
thrush, a fox sparrow and another small bird. At first I thought it was a
nuthatch, when I saw it land on the cedar, it twisted and spiraled down for
just a moment. Then I thought it was a chickadee, because I could see that
there was no brown, only black and white. But the crown was entirely white,
except for black on the sides. It had so much white that I thought it could
not have been a chickadee. It flew into a shrub and when it came back out a
minute or so later, I could see it had a completely white throat and chest.
There was a lot of white on the wings as well. Then it flew out of sight.
This was all without binoculars, so maybe I just didn't see it properly. But,
there are a number of chickadees here, and I'm certain there was a difference
- No black on the throat or crown.

The only thing that looked even close in the NGS guide was the B&W Warbler or
the Snow Bunting in breeding plumage, and the latter seems unlikely,right?
But according to the map in the book, Seattle is way out of it's range. Am I
way off base here? If it's not that, what might it be? Thanks in advance for
your assistance.

Deanie
Seattle - Wedgewood