Tweets - here's some more information on the SMITH'S LONGSPUR found at
Marymoor Park this morning.

We were walking across fields 7G, 8G, 9G this morning (see the map at
http://www.marymoor.org/map.htm) at around 11:00 (I'm not sure of the time,
as I was not wearing a watch). The "we" were myself, Brian Bell, Matt
Bartels, Bruce Jones, Sharon Aagaard, Patricia Lott, and Ollie Oliver.
Ollie called his wife, Grace, and she came down to see the bird too, as did
Sharon's sisters.

We were distracted by the arrival of a large firetruck to a field north of
the road. The firemen marked out an area with cones, and a medivac
helicopter landed! Three television camera helicopters started circling
above our heads. An ambulance arrived. Traffic was being routed through
the park. There was a lot noise and a lot of distraction. [A semi had
plunged into the slough just north of the entrance to Marymoor, causing all
of this commotion].

The field held a small flock of CANADA GEESE, about a dozen KILLDEER, and
perhaps 100 HOUSE FINCHES that were feeding on the ground and occasionally
flying up into the snags to the south.

Because the Buff-breasted Sandpiper had been found this same week exactly 1
year ago amongst the Killdeer on soccer fields at Marymoor, we were scanning
the field with a bit more than the usual cursory glances. However, the
distractions of the helicopters was slowing our progress.

At one point, Matt and I independently noted an unusual call that seemed to
be coming from amongst the finches. Because it was a rattly call and
somewhat mechanical-sounding, and because it wasn't repeated, I wasn't sure
if it was even bird. However, it got my focus back on the birds.

Suddenly the finches flushed, I heard the call again, and I picked out one
bird that seemed every-so-slightly larger, but was most notable for having a
very flashy tail that was quite black with white outer tail feathers. I
could immediately see that the black was in a bold wedge shape, with
even-width white outer feathers, somewhat reminiscent of a junco, but with
black instead of gray.

The bird was flashy in flight, with lighter-colored underwings. The body
was orangish, which made me consider (and quickly reject) American Pipit. I
called out "Longspur, I think" with a fair amount of doubt. All longspurs
I'd ever seen had only white outer corners to their tail, and I didn't ever
remember seeing an orange longspur.

Luckily the bird landed back on the field, and we were able to see its head
sticking up above the grass. It was oddly marked. I said something like,
"Guys, I think this is a longspur, but I don't think it's a Lapland - I
think it's a Smiths."

We spent about an hour watching the bird on the grass. The field was
renovated last year, and the grass is still somewhat thin. I think they
overseeded recently. The bird was feeding the whole time. A few of times
we saw it fly short distances, but the rest of the time it was on the ground
feeding, and occasionally raising its head and looking around.

Brian dictated some detailed notes to Matt, Ollie ran home and got his scope
and camera and got some digiscoped photos, and Patricia Lott and I sketched;
that material will be forwarded to the WBRC. But here's a quick
description:

Size - about the same as the House Finch; in flight it looked slightly
bigger

Color - overall, similar in color to the breast of a basic plumage female
Black-headed Grosbeak, but with extensive dark streaking dorsally.

The breast had small, hard-to-see streaks.

The back had extensive, dark streaks running in lines along the back, and
there was a buffy streak on each side, reminiscent of the back of a Wilson's
Snipe (though on the snipe there are two buffy streaks per side). The
scapulars were streaked, but the streaks didn't form any particular pattern.

The most striking part of the dorsal marking was the tertials, which were
large and dominated the patterning. Each feather was dark (almost black)
for 2/3s of its width, with the lower 3rd being a bright orangy color. The
distal edge of each feather was finely edged in off-white. The greater
coverts also had this pattern, with their distal tips being more broadly
white, forming a curved wing bar.

The median coverts had only a bare hint of white edges, which occasionally
showed as a hint of a second wing bar. However, much of the time the bird
seemed to have only one wing bar.

The folded tail was dark (almost black) with a white edge showing the whole
length of the tail.

The uppertail coverts were orangey with distinct black streaks.

I never saw the legs.

The bill was longer that its height at its base, and was dark, especially on
its upper surface (the lower mandible may have been lighter than the upper,
but it was hard to see because it was eating the whole time).

The crown was streaked longitudinally.

The face was dominated by a large eye with a faint eye ring, giving it a
very large-eyed appearance. There was a hint of a lightish (definitely not
white) supercilium.

The throat was paler, and had some dark smudging that could be interpreted
as lateral throat stripes.

The face pattern was vaguely a typical one with a moustacial stripe with
darkish auriculars, but the pattern was obviously interrupted by a circular
light spot below and behind the eye that was very apparent. (The light spot
was similar in size to the eye, and to the dark spot on the auriculars; gave
sort of a three-spot appearance, 2 dark and 1 light).

The entire head was, overall, less dark than the back, overall; with the
face paler than the crown.

As far as behavior, the bird crept across the ground. When it was amongst
the House Finches, it would be one of the last birds to flush. It gave a
rattly call, similar to a Lapland's, in flight. I had trouble hearing
details of the call because of the helicopter noise. We saw it fly about a
dozen times over the course of an hour (most early on, while the finches
were still around). When on the ground, the bird would occasionally raise
it's head and gaze at us balefully, tensing up before relaxing and resuming
feeding. The way it scooted reminded me of watching Snow Buntings on the
ground.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== birdmarymoor at verizon.net