Greetings All



Whilst birding Norman Road in horrific driving conditions, I stopped at a spot a bit west of where I'd had the Rusty Blackbird. This is a spot after you pass a red barn on the right, immediately adjacent to the road. Keep going west, and there is an area where there is some hay stored, some brambles, and old machinery. This spot was packed with sparrows plus a few blackbirds, a Varied Thrush, etc. Among the birds in the vicinity were about 50 meadowlarks. After about 10 minutes, I heard the very distinctive song of an Eastern Meadowlark. It was utterly typical per my memory, and a short bit later, per playing the CD of the song. The bird was down the road a couple hundred feet near a residence. As I approached, the bird stopped singing, and then the 6 or so meadowlarks that were there flew back towards my car.




I spend about 2 hours looking for this bird, and only saw Western Meadowlarks. I played the CD. Nada sang.

The song was that of an Eastern. The bird singing could have been a Western that learned the "wrong" song (which meant that it would have had to have been raised near singing Easterns) or a hybird, I suppose. More likely, it was an Eastern Meadowlark that I could not relocate. Snows are melting. If you are up in that area, please look for this bird.




What a frustrating two hours.




The Rusty BB was still around, farther e. than where I'd first found it, at a farm with a few "veal" cages. Proving it was a male, it actually sang.




Nothing else sang today. Guess you had to be from eastern North America.




Merry Christmas

Steven Mlodinow

Everett WA