I saw two phainopepla, male, on March 16, 2019. I thought I saw one in exactly the same place three years ago but didn't get as close a look. I've looked for other sightings and see that Cornell shows in W Washington on their five-year map https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Phainopepla/maps-sightings. As this sighting is unusual, I tried to look for details of appearance and behavior: Color, size, ragged crest, profile, wing shape in flight, song/calls, all consistent. These two were perched on a wire. I observed one fly out and hawk (presumably an insect) and return to the perch. My Birder's Handbook lists hawking as a secondary feeding behavior. A fun sighting and you gotta love that somewhat floppy crest in a breeze. Regrets re: late posting but I've never posted before and, well, busy, etc. However, opening Tweeters today I see that someone posted phainopepla in Issaquah today!


Carolyn Boatsman
Mercer Island, WA
c dot boatsman at comcast dot net


(not sure what that's all about but if it keeps me from getting all sorts of automatically generated mail, well, I'll give it a try...)
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