This morning, Jane Hedberg and I had a wonderful couple of hours at the
Fill. The Cinnamon Teals are gorgeous and a walk at the Fill is worth
the trip for them alone.



Throughout our time there we had repeated sightings of a pair of birds
flashing yellow. At first we thought we might be seeing the yellow
headed blackbird that others have seen however after seeing them a
number of times flying over the field and sitting on fence wires and
shrub twigs we became convinced we were seeing Western Kingbirds. A
third birder joined us and agreed, or at least she saw the same field
marks that we did. However we would love it if some of you expert
birders would go down there and look. The yellow flashes making it
relatively easy to locate the brids.



We got the scope on them several times (my second trip out with my new
scope YEAH!) and got some good views. I would guess they were about 7"
long, yellow breast below a gray head, upper chest and shoulders. It
has a black beak and a black (dark) streak through the eye. The upper
back was a gray and the wings black or at least very dark. There were
white feather edges on the tail seen when the bird was flying. The tail
feathers fanned out in flight.



What do you all think? Are we right in thinking Western Kingbird? I
just wish I had had my camera with me so I could have a picture to show
you all.



Margaret Parkinson

University District, Seattle.