At the Teller: Bobolinks in the Bitterroot
Most birders have a favorite bird and when they see it their attention focuses on that bird and only that bird. While we all have our favorite species or two, it is the unusual encounter of a species rarely seen or not expected that shifts our excitement in a new direction.
The car will come to a stop or you will hear the words, “OMG! There’s a rufous-sided...!” Recently, that is exactly what happened to me. While driving down Chaffin Lane, north of Corvallis, I saw this member of the blackbird family with the back of its neck and head dressed in a straw-yellow colored plumage, a black forehead and chest, with a mostly light back. It was sitting on top of a wooden fence post.