Subject: Clay-colored Sparrow at Marymoor
Date: Nov 5 14:21:46 2003
From: Michael Hobbs - hummer at isomedia.com


Tweets - today we found a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW at Marymoor (Redmond, King
Co., WA).

It was *exactly* where Grace and Ollie Oliver had seen the bird last
Monday (but they had not been able to identify it). Given that, this may
be a highly chasable bird.

It's been hanging out in the row of cottonwood snags that is fenced off
near the Interpretive Parking Lot. The Interpretive Lot is the parking
lot at the east edge of the Dog Area; to get there from the main (west)
entrance, drive the park road past the mansion, past the road to the South
Lot, past the Velodrome parking lot. The drive to the Interpretive Lot
will veer off to the right after the road curves to the south. If you get
to the model airplane park, you've gone too far. See the map in your
brand-new ABA/WOS "A Birder's Guide to Washington", page 163.

The cottonwood snag row has been fenced, but there are several paths
connecting the parking lot to the soccer fields. The CLAY-COLORED SPARROW
has been hanging out just west of the first connecting path. It spent
some time in each of the two bushes in that section, and spent quite a bit
of time on the ground (where it can be invisible). It spent the whole
time within that 2nd-from-the-east fenced section. It did not seem to
respond to pishing.

This appears to be a first-winter bird, and it is very brightly marked.
It is really a gorgeous bird, especially in sunlight like today's. It is
VERY pale overall, and has the most beautiful black and buff stripes on
the upper back. The rump was definitely brownish, not gray, while the
nape was notably clear gray. The lores did not appear dark.

There were other good birds today, including at least 3 GREATER
WHITE-FRONTED GEESE nearby. A full report will follow.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.scn.org/fomp/birding.htm
== hummer at isomedia.com