[EBB Sightings] Hayward Longspurs 11/5/04 and 11/3/04

Les,  Thank you for the pictures and your descriptive
comments.  The group of birders I hooked up with on
Saturday afternoon continuously expressed an interest
in both pictures and commentary.  

The bird shown as A1 most closely resembles the bird
we were looking at.  I believe some of the
identification uncertainty stems from what appears to
be a fairly large or elongated bill that exceeded what
most of us would arbitrarily call "small."  

Depending on the lighting, the auricular frame would
disappear and re-appear. I thought it was clear and
present enough to cast doubt on McCown's.  In
combination with the apparent breast streaking and no
discernable breast band, I concurred with you that
this was not a McCown's Longspur.

Thanks again for providing the documentation to help
us study these little skulkers.

As an aside, continuing my "luck" with longspurs, I
crisscrossed Mt. Trashmore for an hour Saturday
afternoon, and found no other longspurs beyond the
study bird.

There was a lone Osprey perched on a post NW of Mt.
Trashmore.  Probable over-wintering bird. Seems late
for a migrant.

Bob Power
Oakland, CA
--- Les Chibana  wrote:

> I've posted a page of shots that I got of the
> longspurs at Hayward 
> Regional Shoreline's Mt. Trashmore on my website.
> 
> 
> 
> I invite comments on what anyone else thinks of
> these birds and my 
> comments. Let me know if my assessments sound
> incorrect. Please comment 
> on what you think you may have seen of these birds,
> too. Each different 
> bird is noted by letter and different shots of the
> same bird have a 
> number, too.
> 
> If it's okay with the list moderator, ust send the
> comments back to 
> this list.
> 
> Les
> ---
> Les Chibana
> BirdNUTZ(tm) - Ornigasmic Birding
> em 
> web 
> ph 650-949-4335
> fx 650-949-4137
> snailmail: SR2 Box 335, La Honda CA 94020
> 
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