Hi all,

After looking at the photos of this bird taken by Monroe Harding and Mark Hoffman yesterday, I noticed that the bird didn't appear to have even a hint of retrices, unless there's some kind of optical illusion going on in those photos. The photos I took five days ago (11/29) show full length tail feathers sticking out in the sunshine. I didn't get any shots with the tail open, so it's not clear how many retrices were in place at that time. If this is the same bird, he either molted all his retrices at once since 11/29 or had them removed by trauma. The only other explanation I can think of is that this may be a different bird (unlikely, I know). At any rate, the absence of a tail probably increases the likelihood that the bird photographed yesterday will be sticking around for a while. I would think he's less likely to take any long trips without a rudder. If anyone else has other photos from yesterday showing some tail feathers, I'd love to see them. If anyone with experience in the molt patterns of sparrows has comments, I'd love to hear them too. 

Mark J.
Aberdeen


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