I had a probable Cassiar at my feeder in Woodstock, MD in early January of this year. Rob's bird is extremely similar to my bird, as can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yawncelot/6438932457/in/photostream
It is listed as a "Pink-sided" in the MD/DCRC for now, but that's because I mistakenly reported it to ebird as a Pink-sided - was not familiar with the Cassiar subspecies at the time. It will be interesting to see what becomes of all the western junco reports that are pending review.
Russ Ruffing
Woodstock, MD
On 12/01/11, Robert Ostrowski<> wrote:
I, along with Peter Osenton and David Kidwell, observed a striking Junco on
Assateague Island last Saturday that shows signs of being of one of the
western subspecies. Literally seconds before my camera ran out of
batteries, I snapped off a few photos of this interesting bird, and after
reviewing them at home, have become more and more inclined to think that it
is of the "cismontanus" subspecies, which is putatively part of the
Slate-colored group but differing from our typical hyemalis birds.
The status of the Cassiar in the east seems to me to be blurry at best, and
talking with others who have knowledge of the situation, there are a
significantly higher number of claims than documented records, especially
"slam dunk" records. The MD/DCRC hasn't yet reviewed the vast majority of
western Junco reports from our area, and when they do, it should prove to
be challenging. As far as specimens, there is at least one mearnsi from
Washington DC (10/26/1979) (found dead by Rick Blom) and a cismontanus
(Chan Robbins) from MD.
I've posted a few photos (link below) of the bird on my Flickr site and
would be interested to hear any comments from those who have
studied/observed this confusing group of birds.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35144142@N04/sets/72157628234080209/
Rob Ostrowski
Crofton, MD
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