is it unusual for a bird like the spotted sandpiper to have winter plumage
in the middle of a fairly warm summer season? will individuals have started
changing plumage already?

i ask because ned mcgarry and i visited llama lake (sammamish plateau,
seattle area) early this morning, and found several spotted sandpipers that
really do look like textbook examples (with spots, greyish legs, white
eyebrow with dark eyeline, etc)... however, we found one individual who has
a perfectly white neck/breast and body, yellow legs, and almost no white
eyeline... and, there's a fair bit of ruff of feathers at the base of the
back of the neck...

thanx! oh, and picture is available upon request...


oh: an adult pair of california quail was spotted at the intersection of
hwy 202 and sahalee way around 0730 this morning, trailing a veritable
neighbourhood worth of chicklings... i managed only a quick snapshot of one
of the adults before the rest scampered back into the brush... they were
very lucky (when i was there, anyway) not to have become roadkill as traffic
was fast and furious at that spot...

00 caren
http://www.parkgallery.org
usually found at juanita bay park, kirkland, WA