I stopped by a local park late yesterday afternoon to bird for a few minutes
just as the sun was setting. Didn't find anything interesting other than a
white crowned sparrow and a couple golden crowned kinglets, but just as I
was leaving a bird flew over that I could not identify. Keep in mind that
the light was very low, and the bird was silhouetted against an orange sky.
My first instinct was meadowlark, which I had seen earlier, but it just
didn't quite fit. The bird seemed slightly smaller with more rounded wings
and a very short rounded tail. I couldn't make out the bill or the legs at
all. The bird was flying fairly low and fast, but the flight pattern was
extremely erratic. It was constantly tilting from side to side and
zigzagging, but not undulating like a goldfinch or woodpecker. The flapping
was quick and constant, but the motion was almost like a see-saw tilting
from side to side.
I know this is not much to work with, but I thought the flight pattern might
ring a bell with someone, and I had never seen anything like it before.
Thanks for the help,
Paul Glass
South Boston, VA
