[mou] Ruby-crowned Kinglet in St.Paul (includes a link to photos of "the spot")

[Steve Bachman]

(I sent this message to the "mnbird" list yesterday,
but it seems to have gone missing -- the whole list,
not just my message.  My apologies in advance if you
receive this message twice.)

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet landed on the ledge outside of
a window in my office at Hamline University.  This
happened about an hour ago (10:00am-ish on Thurs
9/27).

At first, I was unsure what this bird was and was busy
looking at it (at a distance of about three feet) and
jotting down notes ("smaller than a chickadee,
olive-brown head, yellow on wings ...") when I saw a
thin orange line on the bird's head.  I watched as --
before my eyes -- this thin line quickly grew to
become a large (relative to the size of the bird's
head) and bright orange patch.  Apparently, I excited
the bird almost as much as it excited me.

My cell phone has a (poor) built-in camera, so I used
it to take photographs of the bird.  Not Pulitzer
Prize-winning to be sure, but they show the orange
spot quite clearly.  The head of the bird is hard to
see in the first photo, but it shows no orange.  I've
posted these photos on a web page here:

  http://www.bachster.com/birds/kinglet20060927.html

Steve Bachman

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