Hi all,
I have reviewed my video, photos and notes from the birds at Dry Falls this
week and would like to post a followup. The short story is that after
reviewing with sources available to me I have far more confused on the ID
now and for the time being withdrawing my sighting report.
Longer story....
It had been a while since I have heard tri-coloreds on territory and was
drawing a blank on the sounds of males, though the songs these males were
giving were more nasal and harsh than the nearby red-wings yet not what I
remembered for tri-colored. Accross the board there was differences in the
coverts from these birds in question and more closely fit tri-colored. The
red was a deep red in color and while the white was more of a cream I have
seen tri-coloreds contain that color in the lesser coverts, though the time
of year doesnt match for that cream color in my experience. None of the
birds in question had entirely white median coverts they ranged from a
slighty cream color to most birds requiring a close scope view to see the
few off white feathers. Upon reviewing my notes, this does not rule out very
faded and worn male red-winged.
The most compelling arguement and still not sure how to address this was the
image of the females. I was questioning the ID of the males (which often
means they likely wouldn't be said species), yet the females I observed were
a perfect fit for tri-colored females. Sitting side by side in the scope
with female red-winged I observed the very rufous red-wings and the cream
colored throat, while the other birds (believed to be tri-coloreds)
contained no rufous, very a very dark cold brown, heavy streaks and a very
clear well defined white throat. I have not been able to obtain pictures of
the females. Due to the males do not fit tri-colored by song and the coverts
could fit that all the males had very worn lesser coverts I cannot rule out
male red-winged. This makes me question if there is just some abherrant
female red-wings (I was able to rule out immature males by lack of any
epilet). I will work on trying to clear up the questions and report next
weekend on my findings. Interesting birds anyhow and hopefully nobody has
chased this birds with the intent of getting "killer views of a lifer", if
that has happened I apologize for my hasty ID call.

Off to see if the white-rumped sandpiper if still around.

Good birding all.

Scott Downes
downess at charter.net
Yakima WA