Dear OBOLonians and Tweeters,

Linda's bird sounds very much like a Bohemian Waxwing, although
it's too bad that she did not see all the field marks. An August
record of a Bohemian from Yamhill County sounds pretty unlikely, I
know. However, I would not be too hasty to discount it. There have
been at least a couple of unseasonable summer sightings of Bohemian
Waxwings in extreme southern B.C. this year. On July 10, I had close
looks at 3 Bohemian Waxwings at an altitude of less than 3000 feet
near Merritt, B.C.-- in Douglas fir forest, not exactly breeding
habitat. Also, on August 13, Chris Siddle and Chris Charlesworth, two
of B.C.'s most capable birders, saw 4 Bohemian Waxwings near Dee Lake,
SE of Vernon, B.C. This locality is at a higher altitude, but still,
this was the first-ever August record for the heavily-birded Okanagan
Valley.
Tweeters-- has anyone seen Bohemian Waxwings in Washington
recently? If not, keep a lookout for them-- they may be on the move
early this year.
With White-winged Crossbills and a possible Bohemian Waxwing
showing up in Oregon in August, can the Northern Shrikes and
Rough-legged Hawks be far behind? Egad, I hope so-- here in Kamloops,
summer didn't really get started till early July this year!! :-)


-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Fink <linda at FINK.COM>
To: Multiple recipients of list OBOL <OBOL at MAIL.ORST.EDU>
Date: Friday, August 20, 1999 11:34 AM
Subject: bohemian waxwing?


>This morning as I went to the barn I heard a call note that was sort
of
>familiar but I couldn't place it. It was coming from a bird at the
top of a
>dead deciduous small to medium sized tree in front of the barn. I got
my
>binocs and it was a waxwing. The sound it was making was sort of
>waxwing-like but much louder and harsher. The bird had white in its
wings.
>The name "bohemian" went through my mind but I didn't remember the
field
>marks. Contrary to good birding sense, I went in for my bird book to
look up
>the description instead of checking out all the field marks I
possibly
>could. Of course by the time I came out, the bird was gone. I did not
see
>the undertail coverts and I didn't notice if the belly was blushed
with
>yellow or not. But there was definitely quite a bit of white (more
than
>shows in Peterson's) in the wings and the call note was not like any
waxwing
>I've ever heard. Cedar waxwings are quite common here and I'm very
familiar
>with their thin call. This call wasn't thin. So could it have been a
>bohemian? Or just a waxwing with some white in its wings and an
unusually
>harsh voice? I only saw and heard one.
>
>Linda Fink near Grand Ronde, Yamhill County
>Linda Fink linda at fink.com
>http://www.fink.com/linda/teenagers/
http://www.fink.com/farm/5.html
>