Hi ,
and then there's me...I don't post very often. Others have posted the areas
where I go birding and usually cover more than what I see. Or occasionally
I see something really different, but am not very good at giving good
descriptions. For example - sometime just before Christmas, as I left work
for lunch, there was this huge flock of robins. I work at Kah Tai, in port
Townsend. In this flock of robins, were several birds that were
different..The birds kept flying around. so I couldn't get a picture. I
couldn't get a long look at these different birds. They looked almost like
the robins.....with the brown backs and red breasts, beaks and feet the same
as robins. they were lighter in color and
had conspicuous white eyebrows!

I looked in Sibleys, Peterson's, and a couple other books, but found nothing
resembling the bird.
Today I was looking in my Smithsonian Birds of North America, Western
Region. I came across a picture that surprised me.
Eyebrowed Thrush. If I had takes a picture, it would be the same.
Now I wish I had posted about this bird sooner! but didn't think I had seen
anything different...just a funny looking robin!
I have looked for it again and again, but have not seen it.The book says it
is rare to casual in north America.
Betty
Chimacum
critrhse at olypen.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Lynn & Carol Schulz <linusq at worldnet.att.net>
To: Tweets <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2001 12:59 PM
Subject: This n that


> Hi Tweets:
> Connie Sidles wrote a good post on Dec 28, "Kites & Other Sights", saying
> that there haven't been many msgs on Tweets lately. She only had about 7
> msgs after being offline for several days. I have some theories about
that,
> although I did receive about 5 or 6 msgs per day from Tweets. Still
that's
> a big drop in messages, compared to the usual. There was also another msg
> from Glenn Hansen, "Red-brested Sapsucker". I'll try to answer those
> messages now.
> First of all, here are my theories about the lack of Tweeters
> correspondence:
> 1. People out of town (on vacation). Or people stuck out of town
(Buffalo,
> NY).
> 2. People scouting out areas so they can go out on Christmas Bird Counts
> for Audubon. If they are doing that, congratulations. The birds may not
be
> spectacular, but you never know. You might see a rarity when you are
> scouting.
> 3. People sick! Holy, cow. What is this cold, flu thing going around?
> It's horrendous! My family and friends have been very sick w/ what
appears
> to be a bad cold, only worse. It's affected all ages: kids, young adults,
> middle aged, etc. Very sore throat, cough, almost pneumonia. Lingers on,
> and on. I haven't had it (yet), and got the flu shot on Nov 15th. Could
> this be the flu? It's BAD.
> 4. Listers: We're hearing about Marv Breece who is a WA year lister.
And
> Bob Flores who is an Adams? county lister. Two very nice guys by the way.
> I bet there are a lot more listers out there, hustling in a friendly
> competition to get the most birds for a particular area. They will be out
> there right now, birding like mad before the end of the year. I have a
> friend who does all sorts of lists. He even does a winter list. These
> competitions make birding exciting.
> 5. Chasers. There are a number of rarities right now that are really
worth
> chasing. Of course, they are in Canada, or Twisp & Bridgeport in the
> Okanogan, and there are cool birds in other places far away from Seattle.
> If you are chasing birds, you're probably too tired to write for Tweets.
> 6. Last but not least, people are busy. Aren't holidays a drag if you
> can't be out there birding?
> Now for some observations about Red-breasted Sapsuckers. We are seeing a
> number of R-b Sapsuckers in DesMoines right now. They are being seen on
> fruit trees down here in the lowlands, as opposed to the usual Sapsuckers
in
> the foothills near big conifers. Don't know if this is a relevant
> observation about this bird and if they are here now because of the colder
> weather.
> Hope to see you out there birding, listing, chasing, counting species and
> numbers for a CBC, or just plain enjoying the outdoors.
> Yours, Carol Schulz
> 206-824-7618
>
>
>