Tweeters:

I believe that I had a small flock of Tricolored Blackbirds at Helen's
Pond by 3 crabs on Saturday. I was so engrossed at looking at the
Red-necked Phalarope at the east end of the Pond that I found the calls
of the Tricolored distracting. Charlie Wright had reported the Phalorope
to me as he was leaving the Pond, but it had flown away when a Cooper's
Hawk cruised through before I had seen it. My two previous trips to the
Pond that day did not have any blackbirds.

The flock of blackbirds had about 15 birds in it, with two in near adult
plumage. The flock was located in a small shrub/bush at the east end of
the pond, at the water's edge on the road side. I was about 15 feet from
them. The rest were in a molt stage where the epaulets were just coming
in, and for the most part, they looked pretty ratty. One adult had no
trace of white or yellow in the epaulet, and the other had white/yellow.
It was the vocalizations that got my attention. They were not
Red-Winged, and in the back of my head it clicked that I should listen to
the Tricolored recording on my CD on the way home, which I did. I failed
majorly to tell Scott of the Blackbirds, but we were in Shorebird Mecca
at 3 Crabs on Saturday, and I simply got overwhelmed and forgot.

Also at the same location, at 7:30am, I had a possible Sharp-Tailed
Sandpiper feeding in the tall grass to the south (behind) the pond. I
have never seen a Sharp-tailed, and there was no one there to confirm it,
so I let it go. The bird did match up perfectly with Sibley's drawing of
the immature. The two color beak, yellowish legs, rusty cap and
pronounced white supercillium were all there. There were no other
shorebirds near by (not even a Killdeer!) to do a size comparison with.

Jamie Acker
Bainbridge Island, WA
mail to: BiOwler1 at juno.com

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