Subject: Sibley & white-eyed female Brewer's Blackbird
Date: May 16 07:27:49 2001
From: Pterodroma at aol.com - Pterodroma at aol.com


I have only quickly perused Dennis Paulson's detailed lecture comments and
review of the new Sibley guide but have certainly 'bookmarked' it for later
when I'm not paying by the minute for web access from my present field study
site in California. It is certainly worth your time to read at:
<A HREF="http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/Sibleycomments.html">
Comments on Sibley Field Guide</A>
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/Sibleycomments.html

I just wanted to share one comment regarding the excerpt from Dennis's review:

<<Page 513, Brewer?s Blackbird

He shows and writes "occasional female has pale eye." They may well, but I
have never seen this, so I would consider it rarer than "occasional," perhaps
not worth putting in the book. But of course such a bird would definitely
confuse attempts at identification; perhaps a mention is justified. Also, I
question the plumage of the "adult male nonbreeding." Birds that look like
that are probably first-year males, and the brown edgings in such birds
usually wear off by midwinter to produce an adultlike bird. I?m not sure if
adult males ever look like that, as specimens in our collection from as early
as early October are glossy purple and green, and I?ve seen many adult males
in heavy molt earlier in fall that had no trace of brown.>>

This item in Sibley caught my 'eye' as well. We have had one of those
'white-eyed females' here at our gray whale study site at Point Piedras
Blancas, California all Spring. It comes around to feed on the millet which
I spread around on the ground at our feet at the site thus I've had two
months now to study this bird almost daily in close minimum focus detail.
Having never seen one before, it gave me quite a start when first observed
and sent me dashing off to peruse my minimal 'field' field guide collection
(National Geographic and Sibley -- this is a field site after all, I can't
bring everything!) wondering if it might be a Rusty Blackbird which I haven't
seen in 10 or more years even though it's structure, especially the bill made
it look like all the other dark-eyed female Brewer's around here.

I was quite surprised to flip to Sibley and presto, "occasional female has
pale eye". Hmmm. Okay, well that settles that; you learn something every
day. A tricky ID for sure if this caught one unawares. I really wonder just
how common this is. I doubt many birders spend a whole lot of time perusing
every flock (or any flock) of blackbirds looking specifically at or for eye
color. I'm just as guilty as probably most everyone else in dismissing the
whole lot as just a bunch of Brewer's Blackbirds out in a pasture somewhere.
For a while, there was some question that the 'white-eyed' female may be a
molting male. Well, in two months nothing has changed; it still looks like a
female and acts like a female in the company of normal 'white-eyed' males.

It's been a while since last posting to 'tweeters'. Field work assignments
far away from home and a busy winter when I was last home has kept me
restrained. I have been posting weekly summaries of the Spring migration at
our study site on the central California coast. If anyone is interested,
these have all been archived at:
<A HREF="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/slocobirding">Yahoo! Groups :
slocobirding</A>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/slocobirding
To quickly access the PB-2001 weekly summaries and other postings, just type
in <Pterodroma> in the search box then click on <Search Archive>

Richard A. Rowlett
NOAA/NMFS Gray Whale Survey
Pt Piedras Blancas Lighthouse
San Simeon, California