Tweets,



Brien Meilleur and I decided the weather was favorable to have a search for
the AMERICAN TREE SPARROW Barry Levine reported Sunday afternoon. After
considerable searching Brien spotted it with a largish sparrow flock along
the gravel trail north from the southwest pond and just shy of the junction
with the cross-fill trail known as Wahkiakum Lane, with Songs, Lincolns,
Golden-crowneds, and a White-crowned sparrows. It then took me nearly
another hour to relocate it in the same area. It was playing hard to get.



It appears to be a young bird. Rufous margins to the crown, a Rufous ear
patch, gray face, vague central dusky breast spot with a hint of indistinct
streaking on the breast. A little guy with a nice long tail and bicolored
bill, yellowish below, dark above. Whitish forehead and chin; pale gray
below shading to sort of creamy white under the tail. Bright buff and black
streaks on the back, nice white wingbars, broad white edges to tertials and
tail feathers, etc., etc. Silent during our search.



Also noted were one juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher (which flushed with a
three note call sort of like a Short-billed), a Wilson's Snipe, an
Orange-crowned Warbler, several Myrtle and Audubon type Yellow-rumps, a nice
pair of Hooded Mergansers, lots of Wood Ducks, a Cooper's Hawk, some pipits
calling overhead, plus the usual suspects.



Gene Hunn

18476 47th Pl. NE

Lake Forest Park, WA

enhunn323 at comcast.net