On 24 February 1971 Jim Fairchild briefly glimpsed a Pyrrhuloxia Cardinalis sinuata feeding on the ground at Weise Spring Station about 8 miles west of Westmorland, Imperial County, California. He managed to see that the bird was a large grayish finch with a red crest, some red on the face and breast, and having a short stout yellowish bill. Unfortunately, a passing vehicle flushed the bird, and it was not relocated in the following hour of searching.