Subject: [Tweeters] bird ID help please
Date: Dec 30 12:47:50 2008
From: Dennis Paulson - dennispaulson at comcast.net


Kara, that's a male Red-winged Blackbird. For some reason this is a
not uncommon variant in this species. But as birds like this have
turned up again and again, I assume it's a simple mutation that makes
them look shockingly different. I have seen several like this in the
field and as specimens, and there have been photos posted online by
several people. It's an exciting bird to see.

Dennis Paulson
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net

On Dec 30, 2008, at 12:01 PM, tweeters-
request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:00:14 -0800
> From: "Kara Whittaker" <kara.whittaker at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Tweeters] bird ID help please
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Message-ID:
> <8ca21c570812301200i16bdd142m318dd19211ebf10a at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Hello Tweeters,
>
> A friend of mine who lives in the Skagit Flats area West of Mt.
> Vernon asked
> me for some help identifying a bird that visited his yard last
> week. He
> said,
>
> "We saw it about mid morning at our hanging feeder first (black
> oil) during
> the early (mild) part of our snowy period. These shots are in a
> nearby
> apple tree. Have not seen it since."
>
> I said the bill shape tells me oriole, but the plumage does not
> exactly
> match any of the species in my field guides, and all orioles should
> be in
> their tropical winter ranges by now. The dark hood and upper back
> match the
> Baltimore Oriole, which is an eastern species, but the buffy
> streaked sides,
> white underparts, and black/white tail aren't right for this species.
>
> The two photos are posted here:
>
> http://s549.photobucket.com/albums/ii397/kara_whittaker/
>
>
> Thanks for your assistance!
>
> Kara Whittaker
> West Seattle





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