Tweets:

Speaking of white patches, while I was out walking the dog in the rain
without my binoculars the other morning I noticed a flock of brownish
sparrow-like birds with a white bar across the rump/base of the tail. The
white bar was very much like that on a Northern Harrier, except the birds
were more the size of sparrows (or possibly as large as robins). I thumbed
through the books and came up with winter goldfinch and some other less
likely alternatives. The problem is that I didn't notice any yellow and I
thought the birds were bigger. Any guesses on what they were?

Paul Talbert