Hi, Jason.

I apologize for my misstatement that I never thought the Harrison Hot
Springs bunting was a male. I guess I did back when I posted those
photos, and soon after that with more deliberation I decided I really
couldn't be sure of the sex. I had completely forgotten that I called
the bird a male at first, and I plan to delete that from the web page.
It seemed to me that you have to be sure of the sex to be able to
compare the characters distinguishing the two species, just as you
should know the plumage when you try to identify a stint, and I was
left uncertain of the sex as well as the species.

Did you use the second edition of Pyle's handbook of passerine
identification in your determinations? I worked and worked with it and
couldn't satisfy myself that our bird was definitely a McKay's. As it's
so pale, I felt certain it wasn't a typical Snow Bunting, so I was
satisfied with Dan Gibson's and Kevin Winker's determinations. Dan has
been all over Alaska for many years, and I wouldn't be surprised if he
collected a fair number of the buntings that are in the U of Alaska
Museum. That of course doesn't make his opinion sacrosanct, but I think
it does give it some weight. Indeed he may not have looked at as many
references as you have, but I do agree with Wayne that experience is
the very best teacher..

I'll look again at my photos and Pyle's comments on both sex and
species. We also have a series of Snow Buntings in the Slater Museum,
so I can use them as references testing Pyle's statements about
distinguishing the sexes (he's not sacrosanct either!), but of course
there are age differences as well. Thus it seems we are talking about
EIGHT different plumages to distinguish (2x2x2).

Dennis
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Dennis Paulson & Netta Smith
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382