Eugene Hunn wrote:
>
> Tweets all,
>
> Having missed all the excitement last summer following Dave Beaudette's
> discovery of the Tricolored Blackbird colony at Wilson Creek east of Soap
> Lake (see George Gerdts' posting of last Sunday, April 25, for detailed
> directions), being in Mexico (tough luck), I snuck off from work a bit early
> and dashed to the spot, arriving late Friday afternoon, about 6 PM. George's
> directions to the feedlot/pasture east of the "peaceful" town of Wilson
> Creek are fine, just note that the last short stretch of road (past where
> you are told NOT to cross the railroad tracks -- which lead into the
> rancher's yard) is quite rough and very dusty dirt (gravelled, but still
> very dusty to that point from town). I stayed outside the fence (which is
> tight barbed wire and not to be trifled with) and so got no closer that ca.
> 100 feet to the mixed blackbird flock (totalling ca. 200 birds in several
> smaller bunches), so my feeble attempts at photography will show nothing
> much. I was primed to look for a bright WHITE epaulette in flight (which had
> been my distinct impression some years ago when I visited the Portland
> airport site in Oregon). However, no such luck. All the white epaulettes
> belonged to the Yellow-headed Blackbirds. There were also lots of cowbirds,
> male and female; male and female Yellowheads (have you ever noticed that
> Yellow-headed Blackbird males and females have pretty yellow VENTS? Not very
> romantic but a nice signalling device when they stick their tails up in the
> air to fend off intruders in their feeding space). Also lots of
> Red-winged/Tricolored males, adult and otherwise, and females. MANY males
> showed only a narrow whitish border to the epaulette while feeding! Only
> after some patient stalking could one detect the subtle yellowish wash to
> the whitish border, making them, I presume Red-wings. Many of these males
> seemed still in the process of having their alternate plumage (is that an
> appropriate use of that term here?) "smoothed" out by wearing off the rusty
> margins of the fresh alternate plumage. Most of the females were
> card-carrying Red-wings, I would judge, but there were quite a number of
> sooty-bellied somewhat streaky breasted and backed Red-wing type individuals
> which I would have liked to call female Tricolored except that their heads
> were also all sooty, with no pale supercilium. They also had no red on the
> shoulder that I could detect. So I decided they were probably immatures,
> probably Red-wings.
>
> Finally, after may 20 minutes of frustration (beautify sunny evening, sun to
> the right, no wind, so no excuses), I spotted a male with a clean white
> epaulette margin which eventually raised it's shoulder patch and confronted
> a nearby Red-winged in a little agonistic dance. Red of the epaulette was
> distinctly (though hardly "much") darker than that of the Red-wings there.
> I'd say it was "vermillion" rather than "scarlet" or, better, "crimson" for
> the Red-wingeds. I needed a Munsell Color Chart to define the difference
> properly. It was hard to get a good look at either the glossines of the
> plumage -- which the Audubon Master Guide says is more glossy in the
> Tricolored than in the Red-winged (of course, the National Geo guide
> describes both as "glossy black males") or the shape of the bill. I THINK
> the Tricolored I had under consideration was a shade more purplish glossy
> that the Red-wings, which seemed more velvety, and I THINK the bill of the
> Tricolored was marginally thinner and straighter than the Red-wingeds. And
> the bird itself seemed a trifle more slender than the Red-wingeds. I noted
> these features before I reviewed my library, so probably was not deluding
> myself (more than usual).
>
> I later found one more male, at least as distinct as the first and a bit
> closer and a female that combined unstreaked sooty belly and undertail with
> a pale supercilium and no apparent red on the shoulder.
>
> I suspect that the birds in this flock feeding in the pasture are perhaps
> not all quite in peak form for nesting yet. I wasn't able to approach the
> water's edge to check on territorial birds (no one was near to grant
> permission to go through a gate that allowed access around the east end of
> the pasture to the water along this flooded stretch of Upper Crab Creek),
> but it is possible that on territory the epaulette contrast will be more
> dramatic than among birds crouched low to the ground, many still in
> transitional plumage states.
>
> Neither George nor I could get recognizable photos and George is doubtful
> that despite the hordes who saw the birds last year anyone got decent
> pictures. Is that true? Seems in this case definitive "killer" full-frame
> action photos would be a boon.
>
> For what it's worth, en route home Saturday I took a misdirected detour to
> Jameson Lake's north end out of Mansfield (after enjoying 6 displaying male
> Sage Grouses on the Leahy Junction lek -- and my first Grasshopper Sparrows
> of the season), and there was a possible Tri-colored in a pasture flock
> there also, but before I could set up my scope the flock decamped out of
> sight. Who knows. In any case, I think extreme caution is advisable to make
> sure we're really dealing with Tricolored Blackbirds and not one of the
> seeming ubiquitous Pseudo-Tricolored look-alikes.
>
> Gene Hunn.


Hi:

Going thru the old tweeter psots, I noticed this info on tri-colored
blackbirds. While visiting Monck Provincial Park in BC on 5-20-99, we
observed a Tri-Colored Blackbird forageing with a small mixed flock of
brewers blackbirds and brown-headed cowbirds. The bird was observed
about 3 miles after turning off on Monck Road at the 4th Utility Pole
east of the corral on the north side of the road. After reviewing range
maps published in several field guides, we were not as sure of our
sighting as we were when we made it at 75 ft thru a 60x spotting scope.
There was a birght red and white shoulder patch (and aboslutely no gold,
fawn, or other color than bright white like you get when you bleach
white clothes). We considered this the best bird of the trip, which
totalled 207 species. The other "good bird" we studied was a black
morph broad winged hawk near Ray's Farm at Wells Gray Provincial Park.

If someone has time, could you check out the possibility of an
additional Tri-Colored Blackbird colony at Monck Provincial Park.

Thanks

Doug Wassmer & Lilian Saul
Tampa, Fl
tenetg at gte.net