Tweeters and Whatcom Birders,

Sure looks like a Sage Thrasher to me!

Congratulations, Houston, on finding and photographing a regionally
very rare bird. As you say, I believe it's the first record for
Whatcom County. At least, the species is not listed in Terry Wahl's
1995 book, "Birds of Whatcom County".

Even in the Vancouver, B.C. area, which has been intensively birded
for many years, we have only 4 records for Sage Thrasher. The fourth
record was very recent: one seen at Brunswick Point, Delta on November
19th of this year. In fact, it is quite possible that this is the same
bird that you and Jesse found at the Lummi Flats, as it could not be
found at Brunswick Point again after the 19th.

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net


----- Original Message -----
From: Houston Flores <houstonflores at hotmail.com>
To: <whatcombirds at lists.wwu.edu>; <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 4:17 PM
Subject: pictures of Sage Thrasher


> Hey ya'll,
>
> I've posted all of the pictures I took of the Sage Thrasher online
and they
> can be viewed at:
>
> http://www.pbase.com/houstonflores/sage_thrasher
>
> Let me know what you all think. From what I could gather from a
Birder's
> Guide to Washington, this would represent the first November record
for a
> SATH in Washington. Also, I believe this may be the first Whatcom
County
> record for SATH.
>
> Again, Jesse Ireland and I spotted this bird on the Lummi Flats in
Whatcom
> County. Please note that this location is on the Lummi Indian
Reservation
> and it is important to obtain a permit from the Tribal Center before
> partaking in any activity on tribal lands.
>
> Good Migrations,
>
> Houston Flores
> Bellingham, WA
> houstonflores AT hotmail.com
>