[obol] Linn Clay-colored Sparrow and WW Scoter

[Jeff Harding]

Bill Thackaberry and I took a quick spin around Foster Lake this morning, to 
take advantage of the nice weather.
I got a distant look at a White-winged Scoter from the overlook opposite The 
Point Restaurant. It was at the east end of the lake, with some goldeneyes, 
with the right profile on the water, then in flight with bright white wing 
patches in an all-dark duck.
The Clay-colored Sparrow was at Sunnyside County Park, in the wetland on the 
west edge of the park. I pished up a bunch of Song Sparrows, and a smaller, 
slimmer bird came into the cat-tails with them. This bird had a light 
superciliary - not really clear white - offset by a dark crown and a dark 
line through the eye. There was a thin white crown stripe in the middle of 
the dark crown. Across the shoulders was a striking gray collar, with some 
fine dark streaking on the back. The clean gray color on the collar was 
nicely offset by dark brown wings and the dark crown. The bird dropped down 
behind the cat-tails, and did not pop back up, even with a lot of pishing 
and tooting, that attracted some Fox Sparrows, Spotted Towhees, and a 
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, in addition to more Song-Sparrows.
The Barrows Goldeneyes were below the dam, with a few Common Mergansers and 
a Lesser Scaup. There was a Ring-billed Gull on the float on the west end of 
the lake, with some Double-crested Cormorants. There were also American 
Coots, more Scaup, as well as Western, Eared, and Pied-billed Grebes. With 
more time, there is a good chance one might pick out a Horned or Red-necked 
Grebe, but we didn't see one.

Cheers,
Jeff