Hey tweets, I rushed back from the Fill so I could report a huge irruption
of Violet-crowned Fanus this morning. I haven't seen so many in years. They
were foraging everywhere. Some had even roosted in the dime parking lot. I
think the central flock must have lit somewhere over by the stadium because
I could their musical calls - it sounded just like Sibley reports: generally
a three-note oo-oom-pa, oo-oom-pa, followed by a kind of roaring chip note.

In big irruptive years like this one, listers advise us to be on the lookout
for the much rarer subspecies, the red-capped fanus. Like the Tropical
Kingbirds that occasionally turn up in our region, the red-capped fanus can
experience a post-breeding northerly dispersal out of California. I have a
feeling this happens when resources get scarce in the increasingly urbanized
environment of southern California, and so the red-capped fanus from that
region come up here to compete with our violet-crowned ones. I've heard that
often they can be found in Oregon, too, oddly in mixed flocks with Ducks.

There's a rumor that the ABA is going to split off this subspecies as soon
as the DNA studies have been completed. So if you're lucky enough to see a
red-capped fanus up here, be sure to record it. I actually saw three this
morning! They were pecking away at some food on the back end of a pickup
truck, of all things. If you're going out to the Fill to try to find them,
the truck is just north of the greenhouses.

A word of warning from the CUH naturalists: although both these subspecies
look tame, please don't feed them by hand. We want them to stay wild.

Also at the Fill this morning, dark-eyed juncos (rare for here), Lincoln's
sparrow, wood duck, buffleheads back from the north!!, greater scaup, and 3
belted kingfishers fighting., - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com