Date:         Tue, 12 Mar 2002 09:28:08 -0500
Reply-To:     Marysue Meints <mamakitticat@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Marysue Meints <mamakitticat@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Our yard this rainy morning
In-Reply-To:  <LOEBLMOEBBJLGFMFICBBCELGCFAA.mamakitticat@earthlink.net>
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It's been busy this last half hour that I've been looking in the backyard.

25+ Chipping Sparrows

4+ House Finches (male and female)

2 Eastern Bluebirds

1 American Goldfinch (male)

and ...

The one glory of the morning ... an up close, naked-eye, viewing of a male
Yellow-rumped Warbler, or rather the Myrtle Warbler (as some of y'all
prefer!) I was in front of the French doors by the deck, and suddenly he was
there, and gave me a good look at all his sides and angles. So nice, as when
the butter-butts were around earlier, they were flitting so fastly here and
there, it was hard to see one very well. This male was very recognizable!
Quite a joy of learning, to be tested and to know with certainty.

Now as for the Bluebirds. We have two that are regularly in our backyard
now, the others seem to be elsewhere. The one that I have questioned before
is one of these two. It's more gray than blue. It's like a severely muted
version of a Bluebird. The back and edges of wings are black, as in a normal
bluebird, and there is blue color coming in, but the other parts up from
there to the head are just plain dull gray, and the rusty colored chest of a
regular Bluebird is just a muted version of rust. Sometimes these two
Bluebirds are in view near each other, and it's like night and day. One is
shockingly blue, the other is extremely weak in comparison, and looks like a
Bluebird only because of it's shape.

Well this morning, they are out and about. The blue Bluebird looks fine and
dandy this rainy Spring morning. The gray Bluebird looks drab and as if it
has been splattered with black mud. It looks so horrid.

So, question: Is this "gray" Bluebird a female, or some variant of normal?
It's not like any female Bluebird I've seen before. Last summer this
Bluebird was a baby, and it was the only one that look like this, out of 8
baby Bluebirds I counted in the area, this one was totally soft gray. Every
other one turned Blue, while this one stayed "gray" for months and months,
and only has had some color these past few months. I've asked about this
before, but no one answered. I have pictures of these Bluebirds, on film not
yet developed. I wasn't going to ask about this until I had pictures to
show, but since I saw them on this rainy morning with such a difference in
the "gray" one when wet, compared to the "normal" one when wet, I figured
I'd throw the info. I'll get the pictures up on the web as soon as I get
them developed, soon I hope!

Happy rainy day to y'all!

Marysue

Backyard in Bethlehem, Barrow Co., GA