Hi everyone,



Well...a couple days ago my wife and I were discussing what unusual birds we might possibly get as life birds on our yard list, since the list has gotten to be reasonably good-sized for a small yard with limited habitat (before today stood at 82).? Then last night, we heard a familiar call to me (I grew up in Pennsylvania) - the unmistakable (and very LOUD, therefore close) whistle of a bobb-wwWHYYTE.? This was just about dusk and I went out and looked briefly but frankly couldn't believe my ears in this case.? In fact, my first thought was that my neighbor somehow had gotten a recording of one...but I ruled that out because the neighbor wouldn't have any idea how unusual a sighting would be.



Well, late this afternoon I was outside on the patio painting and heard the very loud whistle again, this time from our other neighbor's yard.? A quick look revealed...a beautiful male NORTHERN BOBWHITE at the back end of our neighbor's lot.? So I beat feet back into the house (really bad knee notwithstanding) and grabbed the digicam.? Although the lighting was a bit too strong, I got a number of pretty decent photos, one of which can be seen at - http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?photoID=10148520&cat=38976 .?



This bird will definitely go on my yard list.? But, of course, the debate will now rage about its origins.? For those who don't know, the Northern Bobwhite is an east coast species, with only a few very local established populations in the west.? One of these is down in the south Sound - Fort Lewis - Olympia area (those more familiar with this population, please correct or add more specifics to this general description).? In reading Birds of Washington before typing this report, it appears there are a very few accepted records outside of the known south Sound population.? Could this be one more?? I'll let the gurus debate this one.? My view is...it could be a stray and therefore countable bird.? It could be a released bird.? There is no way to prove a negative, as those with logic training know, so if someone asks me the question - can you prove it wasn't released? - the answer is, no I can't, nor can anyone else, absent a band on the bird.? If it is released, where would it have been released?? Well, there are a couple of hunting dog training operations in the Snoqualmie Valley.? To my knowledge, however, none release bobwhites - and given this incident, I'm actually tempted to spend some research time checking with them to see if they do.? The training operations I know use pigeons for the retriever training and, on very few occasions, Ring-necked Pheasants (these aren't used that much because they are expensive).? There used to be a fee pheasant hunting operation near Duvall (the owner is a retired Professor Emeritus ornithlogist from the UW) near Duvall which is about 12 miles as the crow flies from our house, but that operation hasn't been active for at least six years.?



So again, to make sure we're clear on this - I'm NOT saying this is a valid sighting from a WA records viewpoint.? I'm also not saying it isn't.? I'm particularly interested in hearing from the WBRC (Washington Bird Records Committee) folks on how this sighting will be evaluated.? I'm on the WOS (Washington Ornithological Society) board, but far shy of the time and breadth of birding experience needed to have any weight in the discussion.? What I will do is let folks know if I find out about any known release sites in the valley.? In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if the bird hangs around at all.? His high decibel vocalizations are not likely to produce a mate for the poor fellow, however.? Though after being shocked at finding this guy, I guess I couldn't be totally stunned if another one shows up.?



Let the comments begin...!



Regards,



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net

www.tubbsphoto.com