Hi,

I am seeking help in IDing a bird I saw last September at Mono Lake in
California. Any help that anyone can give me would be very greatly
appreciated.

Thank you,
Diane Bagues
Milwaukie/San Leandro, California
dbagues at earthlink.net


I sent the following email to the relevant person in the area last
September:


"I am writing you . . . in an effort to ID a bird I saw near the water's
edge at Mono Lake--South Tufa on Saturday, September 17, 2005, shortly after
6:00 p.m.

"I watched a group of 3 like-sized birds for a few minutes. They were on
the front of a short tufa that was facing west, so the birds were
well-illuminated in the late afternoon sun. I was fairly close and observed
them with high-end 10X Nikon binoculars.

"One was nearly all black with two exceptions: 1) It had large white wing
patch, a little raggedy-/bedraggled-looking around the edges (as opposed to
being crisply demarcated). 2) It also had at least one pure all-white
perfect tail feather. Regretfully, I did not pay attention to the bird's
bill; I had earlier been observing a flock of Brewer's Blackbirds and
consequently was trying to figure out what blackbird would have that kind of
white wing patch.

"The second bird looked like a pale, nondescript sparrow with a sparrow's
bill, and a breast that was thoroughly streaked, pretty much all the way
down. It had a white eyeline and a light brown head and ear patch.

"The third bird looked pretty much like the second, but in addition it also
had a large dark patch, sort of an elongated oval shape going a good way
down its breast and even into its belly region. What seemed strange to me
was that the dark spot was not small, high and centered as is seen in some
sparrows; rather, it was very large and considerably off-center.

"I asked around and finally found a birder (Gary from Sacramento). I
described the birds I had seen to him. He suggested the black bird could
have been a Lark Bunting or an immature Red-winged Blackbird, and the
nondescript "sparrow" he thought sounded like a Savannah Sparrow.

"When I got home very late Saturday night I looked in the bird books I've
got with me in California, Kaufman and NGS 3rd. The black bird most closely
resembled the male Lark Bunting pictured in Kaufman, p. 327 (with the
exception of that pure white tail feather). There were also Yellow-headed
Blackbirds in the area, but the bird I saw was solid black, with no traces
of yellow. Likewise, the female bird I saw looked exactly like the female
Lark Bunting. It did not look like the Savannah's as pictured in either
Kaufman or NGS 3; "my" bird was considerably paler, and also larger, and it
also had the white eye line that clearly set off the ear patch.

"I am not a skilled birder, but I did spend some time watching and paying
attention to these three birds so I could ID them later. However, I had
never seen a Lark Bunting, and it was not on my mental radar screen.

"[Someone] looked in David Gaines' book and told me there had been a few
sightings of the Lark Bunting in the area, including one or two in the same
place I had seen my birds and also in September.

"So my question is, did I likely see the Lark Bunting? And, if not, what
did I see? I would greatly appreciate any help or information you could
give me."

*****************

I sent the following second email message this week to the same relevant
person:

"I am writing again to ask about my possible Lark Bunting sighting at Mono
Lake last September. I remain curious about what I saw if it was not a Lark
Bunting. I would add a couple of additional points: One is that I was
close enough, and my binoculars are good enough, that I could have counted
the barbs on that one white tail feather of the black bird with the white
patch. It was facing right and turned slightly away, so I couldn't see the
bill easily and wasn't focused on it in any case. The second is that the
oval patch I saw on the third bird looked like a pincushion--a pale
background filled with tiny black dots. I am sure the first bird was not a
Tricolored Blackbird, which I have seen, because the white patch was as
shown in Kaufman and NGS, much longer and larger than the patch seen on the
Tricolored Blackbird.

"Again, thank you for any info you can share. I know that I didn't get a
picture, and that I am not an expert birder. I also know there have been
very few sightings of the Lark Bunting in that area. However, I also know
that I spent some time looking at these birds very carefully, in order to
fix their features in my mind so that I could identify them later, and I
feel very clear about what I saw."