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From: www@ingres.com (Bill White)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: What bird WAS this??!
Keywords: gurgling, bowing
Message-ID: <1991Jun14.221000.12765@ingres.Ingres.COM>
Date: 14 Jun 91 22:10:00 GMT
References: <25412@well.sf.ca.us>
Reply-To: www@Ingres.COM (Bill White)
Organization: Ask Computer Systems Inc., Ingres Division, Alameda CA 94501
Lines: 22

In article <25412@well.sf.ca.us> lp@well.sf.ca.us (Lily Pond) writes:
>
>What did I just see???  It looked to be a little smaller than a towhee, with
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>the coloring, maybe, of some kind of blackbird (but they've never come to my
>feeder before!).  I think also (coincidentally?), at the same moment, this
>year's baby towhees came for the first time!
>
>The amazing thing about this bird was that it (they -- I think there were
>three -- it's just that the light was really bad) -- it kept doing this:
>it would puff up its feathers, spread out and "cup" its wings, gurgle, bow,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>and then trill!  The tree of them kept doing it over and over on my "feeder"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sounds like a red winged blackbird.  Maybe female or immature?
>which is actually just an old crate with some birdseed sprinkled in it on my
>porch.
>
>The baby towhees looked on amazed, and their mom kept squeeking from the
>roof.
>
>I'm in Berkeley, California, by the way.