Subject: Bird ID
Date: Jun 7 12:36:03 2004
From: Mike Mulcahy - mmulcahy at micro-flex.com


Birding at the Kent ponds yesterday we found a bird on the East side fence
which we described as a 6-7" in length, dark gray or gray/blue head, medium
fine dark bill, no visible eye ring, rusty orange chest fading to light gray
on the belly and flanks with A DISTINCTIVE WHITE WING STRIPE. The bird
looked a great deal like the drab adult western bluebird shown in the Sibley
guide for Western North America on page 343. The call was a single down/up
whistle and the bird was very active constantly flying between bushes and
the fence. It must have been a western bluebird but none of our guides show
bluebirds with wing stripes. Is there any stage of growth or molting when
bluebirds show wing stripes?

Mike Mulcahy
Burien, WA