Tweets,

I located the oriole this morning shortly after it started singing
at about 5:30 a.m. above the rowing club dock. It soon moved
to my side of the river in the vicinity of where it was initially
found yesterday.

I met Matt on my way out but missed David and Kathy.

A prolific singer, it repeatedly sang an almost-too-fast-to-count,
two-second-long, 7-note whistle -- usually immediately preceded by
what I would describe as a call note. It chattered at me once
after I immitated an eastern screech-owl.

The bird is not your classic adult male Baltimore. It has a wholly
dark head, but lighting (overcast skies) prevented me from telling
whether it was jet black or not. It has orange outer tail feathers,
but the breast is yellow fading to white on the lower belly, and it
appeared to have two thin whitish wing bars.

I hate to raise the hybrid question but from a quick gander on the
web, plumage and time of year seem wrong (?) for a pure-bred, young
male Balimore Oriole. Nonetheless, all my references are at home at
The moment, and I have only my failing memory of encountering hybrid
orioles in north Texas in the 80s and 90s. Needless to say, I am
anxious to compare notes with others.

All this being said, it still raised the hairs on the back of my
neck. What a great find!

Carl Haynie
Sammamish, WA