Subject: Ferry Co. update
Date: Aug 25 22:33:04 1999
From: Gaylord Mink - gmink at bentonrea.com


Although I am a rank amateur at bird identification, some time back I
submitted a list of birds I thought I had seen around Curlew Lake in
Ferry co. WA in late July. Afterwards Wayne Weber contacted me and
questioned two items on the list; the Gray-crowned Rosey Finch and the
herring gull. Recently I had a chance to reexamine, frame by frame, a
video I had taken of many of the birds during the trip. As Wayne
suspected the Rosey Finch identification was in error. However,
interestingly I found 3 species on the video that I had not noticed at
first glance; white-winged crossbills, a Townsend's warbler, and a cliff
swallow. The census list for Ferry county on Don Baccus' web site has
been adjusted for these changes.

Interestingly the crossbills were only seen one day; July 26th. On
looking at the video made in early morning it was easy to see males of
both crossbill species; red and white-winged. For anyone interested I
have posted images taken from the video on my web site at
http://www.angelfire.com/wa/minkgi
Go to Index of Images then Birds then Curlew Lake

There was a short discussion a few days back about the
white-wingedcrossbills moving into Washington by early August. Seems
some were in Ferry county by July 26th.

On the video were 5 birds I could not identify, including the young gull
I though might be a herring gull. Anyone visiting the web site is
welcome to provide identifications for the five unknowns listed as 1-5.

Thanks for any assistance.
Gaylord Mink