It seems that I remember in the original posting about this bird, which I
read and deleted, that the observer said that the unidentified bird
"sometimes fed on the ground". If the bird was seen in trees, that would
point to Northern Mockingbird because wagtails only feed on the ground.

Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA

At 01:37 AM 2/16/2001 -0800, you wrote:
>Sounds awfully like a Northern Mockingbird, but as Hugh suggests, an
>on-site ID would be a good idea (a bird in the bush may only be worth
>half of one in hand, but it's worth dozens of birds in cyberspace).
>Habitual tail pumping wouldn't fit very well, but a couple pumps here
>or there wouldn't mean much, and the rest seems just right.
>
>The "wagging" tail brings a certain genus to mind, but since none of them
>seem to match the description as well as NOMO, I'll keep my nickel on my
>first guess.
>
>Jim McCoy
>jfmccoy at earthlink.net
>Redmond, WA
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Hughbirder at aol.com [mailto:Hughbirder at aol.com]
>Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2001 1:58 PM
>To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>Subject: Unidentified bird in Sequim
>
>
>I had a telephone call today from a Joyce Carlson, her phone no. is
>360-681-3860, in Sequim regarding a bird she can't identify. She said it was
>light gray head and body, black wings and tail, tail had white edges and
>tips. It has a short thin black stripe behind the eye, much thinner than a
>No. Shrike she said. It pumps its tail a little and sometimes feeds on the
>ground. She has seen it a number of times there. We went thru the shrikes,
>kingbirds, and Townsend's Solitaire. She said the Gray Jay and Clark's
>Nutcracker would be bigger than this bird.
>
>I was hoping that someone that lives near Sequim could contact her and maybe
>get to see the bird and identify it.
>
>
>
>Hugh Jennings
>Bellevue, WA
>hughbirder at aol.com
>
>
* * * * * * * * * * *
* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* osprey at nwinfo.net *
* * * * * * * * * * *