Dear Tweeters,
Today (the tenth of December) I saw a beautiful leucistic Fox Sparrow at Northern State Recreation Area, near Sedro-Woolley. Most of the bird was snow-white, but the head was a mix of white with the normal rusty red. The bird was more shy than any of the other birds in the mixed sparrow flock with it, so I was able to snap only a few very bad, incomplete photos, as it lurked in the blackberry tangle.
That was the sixth time I'd seen leucism in Fox Sparrows. By contrast, I have observed leucism in Song Sparrows only twice, although I have observed Song Sparrows about 7.5 times more frequently than Fox Sparrows. Does that mean that leucism is 20 times more frequent in Fox than Song? Perhaps not, but still!
Later on, I saw the Bald Eagle that Marv Breece has dubbed "Frosty." This bird keeps staying around the Samish West Ninety.
The best bird of the day for me, though, was a Clark's Grebe! It was at the Samish Island Public Beach, AKA DNR Park or Samish Island Beach Access. This bird was with a small flock of Red-necked Grebes, Common Loons, and Red-throated Loons. They all swam off to the west as I was observing the Clark's Grebe--too far for me to take any photos, sorry to say.
Yours truly,
Gary Bletsch
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