Hey tweets, I've been laid up with a bad back for the past three days
and have had to take my Fill vicariously. It is certainly possible
Blair might have seen a juvenile Lazuli Bunting. Although no one
reported hearing or seeing singing males this year, we had breeding
pairs two years ago and probably one pair last year as well. Last
year's male was remarkably quiet for a bunting, more of a wallflower
than a boisterous bouquet, you might say. However, we've also
experienced more Dark-eyed Juncos breeding in lowlands this year
(several on campus and some even in my backyard less than a mile away
from the Fill). In addition, the House Finches have sprung back in
very large numbers from their eye-virus population crash. So plenty of
finchy things around. We are low on House Sparrows, though, and have
been for more than a year.

By the way, fall migration is doing really well so far this year, much
to my delight. In addition to numerous Least Sandpipers, we've had a
Greater Yellowlegs, several Long-billed Dowitchers, and a Western or
two. I know that doesn't sound like a lot for a site as famous for
shorebirds as the Fill. But the spring migration was so puny I have
learned to be grateful for even small crumbs.

Makes you realize how poverty-stricken the Earth would be without its
species diversity. - Connie, Seattle

constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com


On Jul 16, 2011, at 3:22 PM, Blair Bernson wrote:

> I just got back from a quick trek around the Fill where rain was
> replaced by sun and it was very humid for a bit. I am about 80%-
> 90% sure that I saw an immature Lazuli Bunting in one of the shrubs
> between the almost totally dry Shoveler's pond and the Main Pond.
> The right size, shape and posture, wingbars, light wash on throat
> and upper chest, light belly and no streaking, dark eye and conical
> bill a little longer and thinner than House Finches. Definitely not
> a Savannah Sparrow, of which there were many about. I had stopped
> on a whim on the way back home from downtown so no camera to record
> for posterity. I have never seen a Lazuli Bunting at The Fill and
> would expect an adult rather than immature but cannot otherwise
> identify.
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20110716/ff197769/attachment.htm