From: Tom & Jo Heindel
Date: 9/26/99
Time: 9:58:51 AM
Remote Name: 209.221.198.73
A LOWA was found Friday morning (24th) in the pigpen at Panamint Springs by Gary Rosenberg an AZ birder. This is only the second record for Inyo. It spends much of its time IN a pallet eating the spiders and other insects that have taken refuge from the heat (and the pig?). It then comes out to drink in a little pig pond, bathe, fly away (Laughing at all the birders who are in a panic) and after 20-30 minutes returns to hide in the pallet and sleep and eat until the next time. The bird was still there Saturday afternoon. They are nocturnal migrants and we've not received any calls today (but don't expect any either unless from somebody in the BSG). The telephones do not work at Panamint so we were unable to call and on both days we were not there until the mid afternoon which would have given OV people only a few hours to get there and wait for its performance. Birds do tend to linger in fall so we are hopeful that somebody makes the run and sees it again! It is a very colorful example of a Louie with very brightly colored flanks that bleed down into the undertail coverts. One of the observers commented that the bill looked more like a harpoon as it is huge. So is the pure white supercilliary. We took a few pictures so if they turn out they will be available for viewing.