During an earlier Snowy invasion in the early 2000's I was sitting at my office window at the corner of 4th and Madison in downtown Seattle looking up Madison toward the Federal Courthouse (near the library) and I saw a flock of crows mobbing a big white bird sitting in a bare tree - I quickly got a look at the bird in my bino's and confirmed it was a Snowy Owl and got a couple of fellow birders to rush out with me to document the find. It was windy and snowing moderately - not ideal chasing weather, and when we got to the corner slipping and sliding along the crows were still there and highly irritated, but much to our surprise the source of irritation was a white plastic shopping bag Bubo Plasticus Albus sp. Safeway! We were puzzled, and laughing, until we looked down 5th avenue and saw a couple of crows harassing a Snowy Owl. Apparently in the curfuffle and lowered visibility the owl had managed to fly off but a bag caught in the roost tree was still there. It took another couple of minutes before the entire murder caught on and they then lively pursued the Owl down 5th towards SoDo and and its fields of nice flat white roofs. Desire can blur the object of our affection.
Rob Conway
SW Portland
45.46?N 122.68?W (Elev. 473ft)
robin_birder at hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2011 09:24:18 -0800
To: johntubbs at comcast.net; pointers at pacifier.com
From: tweeters at dartfrogmedia.com
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] re: birds that aren't
CC: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Forgot to mention:
I have a spectacular photo of a coyote hanging out midday on the dock at the UW boathouse (the one they use for their racing shells). It wasn't until I turned my lens on it that I noticed the legs were made of metal springs. Love that photo!
Marc Hoffman
Kirkland, WA
www.SongbirdPhoto.com
At 11:14 PM 12/6/2011, johntubbs at comcast.net wrote:
Hi Lyn and folks,
Bud Anderson told us on a field trip a few years back that he keeps a list (perhaps just an informal one) of all the things that have been mistaken for raptors on his field trips. On the field trip in question, we added a new one to his list when several people scoped a 'raptor' sitting on a distant fence line. The bird turned out to be a cow skull.
John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
From: "Lyn Topinka" <pointers at pacifier.com>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 10:13:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] re: birds that aren't
at Ridgefield Refuge last December there was a hunters decoy left in
a field which had even some experienced birders checking their
Sibleys and scratching their heads !!!!!!!
http://ridgefieldbirds.com/Images10Dec/RNWR_mystery_heron_12-31-10.jpg
Lyn
Vancouver, Washington
Lyn Topinka
http://EnglishRiverWebsite.com
http://ColumbiaRiverImages.com
http://RidgefieldBirds.com
_______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
_______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
_______________________________________________ Tweeters mailing list Tweeters at u.washington.edu http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters