hello jim and tweets,

when i was walking by this bird, i orginally saw it from the corner of my
eye, and like most birders, i didn't consciously think about it at all
cuz it's, well, a *robin*. but my subconscious took over and made my head
spin round so my consious could take a closer look at it.

afterall, something wasn't right about this bird.

i stopped and stared at it for a few minutes, trying to remember what
a juvenile of the year looks like, wondering if an especially industrious
pair of robins had already gotten a nest off and fledged, but no, this
bird was not in juvenile (immature?) plumage because it lacked the regular
dark spots on the breast. in fact, even the white spots were irregularly
placed, mostly around and immediately above the white belly patch, which
was shaped like a "v" with the pointy end up.

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Love the creator? Then protect the creation.

On Tue, 3 Apr 2001 jim_rosso at mediaseek.com wrote:

>
> Deborah
>
> I know that in various species the sexes do migrate separately and
> sometimes in different directions. But I always wonder as I view gatherings
> of females if I might actually be seeing a gathering of immature birds. I
> know that they sometimes migrate on their own schedule. In San Francisco
> the first arrival of Long Billed Dowitchers were always the brighter
> colored juveniles.
>
> I do not know how long it takes a robin to get into adult plumage but do
> you think you were viewing a group of immature birds?
>
> Jim
>
> Jim Rosso
> jrosso at mediaseek.com