Hi Rachel,

Thanks very much for the clarification. I knew that the females of some species sing, and so assumed that must be the case here, based on the close resemblance of the bird to the image of a 1st year female in Sibley's (and not being familiar with the species). It was definitely singing away last evening (Wednesday) as well as foraging very actively, which certainly simplified locating the bird.

John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
www.tubbsphoto.com

-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Rachel" <RachelWL at msn.com>

The AMERICAN REDSTART at Stillwater is a young male. Males of this species don't attain full adult plumage until the second pre-basic molt, but males in their first-year, female-like plumage do sing and sometimes manage to find a mate and nest, usually in less-than-optimal habitat. Females rarely sing.

The Stillwater redstart was singing like crazy, and does show the scattered black feathers around the face and throat of a young male.

Rachel Lawson
Seattle
RachelWL at msn.com