Hi,
Today at the Campground at Fort Flagler, Marrowstone Island, Jefferson
County, I saw a Brown Creeper that was (compared to usual Washington
creepers) cold brown (not rufous) with white underparts (slight grayish
tinge on the flanks and slight rufous-grayish tinge on the lower belly/
undertail coverts). Perhaps more strikingly, it was large, with a long bill
(pinkish below) and a long tail. The overall jizz was less mousy than usual
west Washington creepers. It did not call.

So, a couple of questions:
a) Am I right in thinking that our local creeper (Certhia americana
occidentalis) is not dichromatic, and so all are essentially rufous?
b) The bird I saw seems closest to C.a. montana from the other side of the
mountains. According to Harrap and Quinn's book on Chickadees, Nuthatches
and Treecreepers they winter 'west to the pacific coast' (and also south and
east). Does that fit in with other people's experience? Are they common
here?

Any help would be gratefully received,
Thanks,
Nigel

--
Nigel Ball
Bainbridge Island
nigelj.ball at gmail.com
206 715 8030
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20100101/6c7de835/attachment.htm