Jerry - I read your message while I was in Ontario for the ABA Chatham
conference. Since I was far away from Washington, I thought I could check out
whether the yellow belly was an east coast thing. I didn't see very many
Common Yellowthroats, but all I saw had grey bellies and white undertail
coverts. None had yellow to the tail as in the illustrations.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== hummer at isomedia.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Jerry Blinn <76506.3100 at compuserve.com>
To: <Blind.Copy.Receiver at compuserve.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 1999 2:44 PM
Subject: New NG Guide again


> While birding today, I was reminded of another aberration in the NG guide
> that was not corrected in the new release -- even though they made changes
> on that page.
>
> In the NG guide, the Common Yellowthroat is illustrated with yellow all
> the way to the undertail coverts. In life, at least around here, the
> yellow stops at the bottom of the chest -- the belly and undertail are very
> white, with possibly some yellow on the undertail of the male. The NG
> guide does mention "adults vary geographically in extent of yellow below,"
> but all five! illustrations show yellow all the way to the undertail.
>
> The Peterson's West and Eastern/Central guides both show the white belly
> and undertail (although the male appears to have a yellow wash on the
> undertail), and mention "white belly." Ditto for the Golden Guide. The
> All The Birds guide shows and mentions a white belly and yellow undertail.
>
> Is the bird really this variable? Shouldn't the NG guide show the white?
>
> Jerry
>
>
> E-mail from: Jerry Blinn
>
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