Sorry about the first post, everyone. I neglected to put a subject line...

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From: johntubbs at comcast.net
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:37:21 +0000

Hi All,

I arrived at Marymoor shortly after Matt Bartels post and checked out the original area where he found the TROPICAL KINGBIRD. It was not to be found near the ballfields, although there was a flock of at least 25 KILLDEER and another similarly-sized flock of AMERICAN PIPIT. Michael Hobbs came walking over toward the parking lot and graciously let me know that the Kingbird was in a birch tree down the path between the dog area and the East Meadow. I had grabbed my camera before I left work, but the battery was almost out - and of course my spare was at home. Fortunately, I got some decent images. The link below will take you to the first of three images.

http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?photoID=4827872&cat=38984

After the first image, click Next to see the other two images.

The quality of these isn't great as the sky was backlit and I had to shoot almost straight up into it. However, the images do show the field marks sufficiently. The most obvious is the large and long bill versus the Western Kingbird. Also visible in the images is the darker cap/mask of the Tropical versus the paler gray of the Western, and the extent of yellow on the breast extending higher on the breast than the Western. (See Sibley western edition.)

Thanks again to Michael for pointing out the bird. The bird eventually flew to Snag Row and landed in one of the more westerly snags.

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