Don't feel bad -- I'm pretty confident every seasoned, hard-core
birder on this list has a similar story to tell (whether they tell it
or not!) -- I know I do! Although a Phainopepla in Seattle would have
been a lot of fun -- an excellent & interesting species!

Mark


-
>Hi folks,
>
>I know this is going to be disappointing to a lot of you, but I'm
>afraid we can confirm that the bird we thought to be a Phainopepla
>was actually a young Stellar's Jay (and extremely dark, even for a
>Stellar's). We went back this morning to the same spot and found the
>same bird, behaving exactly the same way. This Jay was a lot smaller
>than most and almost completely black, but we were able to watch him
>for longer. Our first clue was the absence of the conspicuous red
>eye, this bird's was definitely black. After about twenty minutes,
>he finally came down out of the tree, and when I saw the tiny bit
>of blue on his tail feathers, I knew what we were dealing with.
>
>I want to apologize for getting everyone excited, but I'm pretty
>certain you won't find a Phainopepla in the Arboretum this year.
>Chalk it up to a couple of young birders who got a little over
>excited when they couldn't figure out what they were looking at...
>
>Dan Corcoran


--
Mark Egger
Seattle, WA
USA
mailto:m.egger at comcast.net