Goldfinch.

I'd suspect American Goldfinch (winter plumage). Black wings with
white bars. Light rump.

If it has a dark rump could be Lesser Goldfinch (especially if you
see some (males) with black cap).

Seeing largish (50+) flocks intermittently on Capitol Hill in
Seattle. They really seem to like Silver Birch buds. Had a flock at
the Thomas St P-patch that spent a whole Saturday morning working
through the silver birches.

On Jan 10, 2009, at 4:24 PM, Lydia Bishop wrote:

> It is about the size of a large sparrow, has a pale grey-ish-
> greenish-yellowish body and when the sun catches it's wings it is
> quite yellow on the underside of the wings. The back is a grey-ish
> color and the wings have distinct black and white bars when it is
> hopping around at the ground feeding stations. It pecks away at the
> seeds. If somebody here in Tweeters can get me a general species I
> think I can nail the ID when I get home and look at my book. Maybe
> someone could send me links to likely suspects.

--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com