"I ahve to say you ladies are REALLY good, maybe we should skip to the first fall warblers???? " Ladies, we are in trouble. Check your Peterson guide on confusing fall warblers to bone up for the challenge! Actually the guide is pretty good by putting them in sub-sections by field marks and color. You can then proceed by process of elimination until you get down to the correct bird. Then check the Cornell's site for other photographs for further positive ID markers. Local variations and light in the photos make if tougher too but if you find most of key ID points it is probably that bird. According to my SMAS group the Blue Jay is considered partially leucistic, not albino, and is exhibiting other feather abnormalities related to genetics. In another communication, Arlene Ripley commented that she has seen many albino birds but none have exhibited the fur-like structures of this Jay's feathers. I did some of my own research on fur-like feathers and every site pointed to something called proto-feathers which were exhibited by some early dinosaurs before true feathers emerged. It's exciting to imagine this bird may be exhibiting an ancient genetic throwback to prehistoric times which upholds the common belief that birds evolved from dinosaurs as they first took flight. There has been a call to ask everyone on the local site if there is a scientic name for this feather anomaly and this call comes from a man that works for the Smithsonian Institute and really knows birds. So far, no reponse, so the local bird community here may be stumped. There was sentiment regarding hope the bird survives. Jean, has this bird been a regular at your feeder for any length of time in which one could make the assumption it has survived nature with this variance? Arlene suggested the photo be posted on websites dedicated to leucistic and albino birds and see if more information could be obtained from readers. PapaSmurf is a rare Blue Jay indeed. CT

Stunning pictures as usual!!

Well shoot. Lincoln's is one I should know. OK, I see it, I think. These sparrows drive me crazy, I was sure this was one I didn't know but now you say Lincoln's, i can see it. Thank you.

After consultation, I've decided the sparrows are only a smaller, lighter subspecies of the large reddish Song Sparrows with double wing bars that are common around here. Too bad..thought they were Lincoln's. But they could have been migrating through anyway