June 28, 1976 Dr. Ronald Rider Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80521 Dear Ron: I returned this past week from a brief stay at a convention in Snowmass at Aspen, Colorado and must confess to having observed several birds there that certainly have no business there--maybe they didn't read the bird book distribution records! I'd appreciate very much knowing your knowledge on recently kept records for any of the following: Pine Grosbeaks - There seemed to be several pairs of these at the higher elevations of 9,500 feet to 11,300 where I was hiking. Red Crossbills - There were pairs of these around the village as well as farther up the slopes towards the 9,000 foot level. Redpoll - I observed one pair of birds but only had a good look at one of them and it obviously was a redpoll but with an extreme amount of white around the head, neck and red-capped area as well as much white on the sides of the body and wings. It looked very much more like a hoary than a common redpoll but of course hoarys aren't shown on any maps much south of the Canadian border. It was in the conifers at about 10,500 feet on June 22 as were the other birds mentioned. On June 21 along a creek not far from the village, I observed in addition to the normal expected warblers - a Nashville, a Tennessee and a Mourning Warbler. The common warblers were the MacGillivray and Audubons in that particular creek bottom habitat. I'll look forward to having your comments and experiences for that part of the territory, Ron. I also hope you are having a very fine summer. Most sincerely, Fred G. Evenden Executive Director FGE/1y