Steve and Tweeters,

I'm not a county lister, so I had no idea at the time that Penny, Steve,
and I found Whidbey's first Clay-colored Sparrow. There's no doubt
about the ID on that one, at least.

As for the shearwater.... We identified it as a Short-tailed on the
basis of the underwing pattern. The bird did show some paleness on the
underwing coverts, but just a hint. The pale areas were grayish and
only slightly paler than the rest of the underwing, not the
silvery-white I associate with Sooties. The pale area was limited in
extent. The viewing conditions were good enough that I think we would
have seen silvery wing linings if they were there. I didn't get a feel
for head or bill shape, but the bird seemed very long- and
narrow-winged. Having said all that, I know this is a difficult ID
problem, that there is a lot of variability in shearwaters, and that the
"official" record might end up being "shearwater sp." I certainly
welcome any comments.

Rachel Lawson
Seattle
RachelLawson at softhome.net


-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Steve
Ellis
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 11:10 AM
To: Tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] re Clay -colored Whidbey

As the official unofficial keeper of Whidbey bird records I can state
this
is the 1st reporting of a Clay-colored Sparrow on the island. As for the
shearwater, others have been reported as "shearwater species" but not
identified %100 to species.
If you're interested in looking for the sparrow, the park in question
does
generate a lot of human traffic on weekends during low tide. I'm ashamed
to
say I don't know if it's clamming season now or not but if it is,
check
the tide tables before coming to Whidbey. Would lots of human
interference
drive the sparrow away? I'm trying for it tomorrow and will let everyone
know if it's still there.
Gosh, I was going to report a Townsend's Solitaire just outside of
Coupeville but it seems insignificant to the other species reported!
Steve Ellis
Coupeville, Wa
sellis at coup.wednet.edu
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