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Re: Winter tanager






Robert Perkins wrote:


>      I was emjoying a procession of "normal" winter birds, including
>pine and yellow-rumped warblers, when a strange bird appeard at the
>bird bath and then disappeared before I could examine it with
>binoculars.  Fortunately it came back for a second visit and my wife
>spotted it.  I got a good look at it.  It was a tanager with a pale
>yellow bill, more beige than yellow.  The bird was olive on top and
>yellowish olive underneath.  The wings were darker than the body and
>showed definite but not prominent whitish wingbars.  The best match
>in my NG guide is female western tanager.  I also consulted Sibley,
>leading to the same conclusion.
>      First, what is a tanager doing in the North Carolina sand hills
>in the winter?  Second, are there alternatives to western tanager
>that I might have missed?  The wing bars rule out summer tanager and, 
>although the Sibley guide mentions that first year scarlet tanagers can 
>have weak wing bars, the Sibley also notes incidences of >western tanagers 
>showing up in the east in the winter.
>      In my log I've listed the bird as a western tanager.  However,
>I'm always open to good arguments.
>
>Bob
           --------------------------------------

   Female Baltimore or Orchard Oriole would be FAR MORE likely than Western 
Tanager (are there ANY records of a W.T. in this area in winter?), and would 
still be a good sighting. This is the sort of case where looking at one of 
the photographic guides(Stokes, Audubon, Kaufmann) might prove very helpful 
if you have one Bob -- once the possibilities have been narrowed down using 
generic representations sometimes a bird absolutely jumps out at you when 
looking at a photograph.

  P.S. - Can someone tell me if there were any E. Grosbeaks or Snow Buntings 
picked up on Triangle CBC's (and if so where) or how about R. Crossbills 
this yr.?

**Rob Gluck     Chapel Hill    thrush@hotmail.com

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