Since Roger and Wayne both read Tweeters I'm just
sending this out wholesale since I also have another
(new) observation.
First, the Pinking Birds. I do have the Audubon CD
and I finally got it working and the closest call was
the crossbill although not exact, but then most things
in nature seldom are. They were very loud, but the
call on the CD for the Grosbeak wasn't as close as for
the Crossbill. If they WERE Crossbills, they'd have
been female and immature as was mentioned; I'm sure
I'd have noticed the red if a male was there. And you
are right, Wayne, a good bird call audio set would be
very useful. The CD is pretty helpful but maybe there
is something better, I'll have to look around. Thanks
for all the input from everyone. I pretty much got it
down to the two most suggested birds, Evening Grosbeak
and Red Crossbill and I'm happy to leave it at that.

Second, this morning a flurry of Black-capped and
Chestnut-backed Chickadees arrived at my bird feeder
area along with RB Nuthatches, and the resident
Towhees (which I'll always think of as Rufous-sided,
that's what they were to me for 30+ years). ANYWAY,
there was one persistant Chickadee who stuck around
all by itself long after the others had rejoined the
Kinglets in the surrounding trees. It was happily
flitting from the forsythia bush to the feeder to grab
a peanut and back to the forsythia to peck away at the
peanut held in its foot. I had a good long
observation of it, from all angles, as it moved all
about the large bush (which thankfully had lost many
leaves) and onto the feeder and back. Well, this
Chickadee was a "mutant" chickadee--partial albinism?
The black bib and face was pretty typical up to just
above the eye where the black cap suddenly turned to
gray to silver to almost pure white (but a bit
silvery, not total pure white) and the "frosty" look
continued all down the nape and the entire back,down
to the rump. The wings and tail were only slightly
lighter than a "normal" Black-capped Chickadee and the
buffy color on sides and breast looked normal. If
anyone still has their old Peterson's Guide to Western
it looked sort of like the picture of the
"Gray-Headed" Chickadee on plate 45 but even more
whitish/silvery on the crown. The other thing I
found interesting was that although it gave out
numerous loud and hearty Chick-a-dee-dee-dee's it also
made quite a few other calls which I don't normally
hear coming from them, and which aren't described in
my Petersons or Audubon books (sorry, I don't have a
bunch of specialty books, just these old standbys).
Especially it scolded the Towhee when it came onto the
feeder when the white-backed Chickadee wanted to go
there. What also seemed interesting was that it spent
at least 5-10 minutes alone without its buddies and
I'm wondering if being "different" has caused it to
become accustomed to being the "odd man out" and hence
not feeling insecure when not in the flock? Is that
too far out or could that be the case? It seemed EVEN
BOLDER AND CHEEKIER than a regular Chickadee, if that
can be believed.

I have both Black-capped and Chestnut-backed
Chickadees up the kazoo all year around and if there
is one bird I've spent some time getting to observe
(besides my resident Towhee families) it is them. And
one thing I've always noticed, is that a Chickadee is
usually not long alone, usually is moving in some
loose concert with at least one or two others. Anyone
got some light to shed on this?

Danene Warnock
Bellevue, WA
northwestmom at yahoo.com


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