On Mon, 3 Jul 1995, Michael Price wrote:
> Is the 'Crockett Lake' mentioned in previous posts on this bird the same as
> the 'Crockett's Lake' on Whidbey Is. cited in Wahl & Paulson's Guide to Bird
> Finding in Washington?

Yes

> And was the bird relocated today? Has anyone determined whether it's an
> Alternate 1 or a Definitive Alternate plumaged bird?

Yes to the first.

Details first:

Kelly Cassidy and I located it this morning at about 9:00 AM, at the
southeastern end of Crockett Lake. Nigel Ball of Baimbridge I. was there
also. I was also curious about the plumage, as it didn't appear to be the
adult alternate plumage described in many guides. The bird was Pectoral
size and shaped, with a broad white supercilium, rufous cap, white chin,
buffy-reddish breast, and a few streak marks on the flanks, just below the
wings, and a few thin streaks near the nape, small bill. Having never
seen an adult Sharp-tailed before, I had looked through the sources I have
(NGS, Peterson's, Hayman et al., Audubon's 'Master Guide', and Paulson) to
get an idea of what it would look like. The bold chevrons and streaks
down the breast and on the belly were definitely *not* present on this
bird. I thought maybe it was just me, but Nigel saw the same thing when I
asked him. We agreed it did not look like the adult plumage bird in
Hayman et al. (plate 82, 200a) or the Audubon Master Guide (vol. 1,
p.390), the NGS guide adult (p.134), or the Peterson adult (p. 147).
There were just a few streaks on the flanks. Dennis (in his book) says
the Peterson guide is much too dull to depict adult plumage. The
Crockett Lake bird looked to me much more like the juvenile plumages
described and pictured. However, seems to me that a juvenile would be
unlikely in early July (the parents would have been on eggs by late May,
right? Seems unlikely). I assume then that this is an Alternate I bird,
not a definitive adult. My only previous experience with this species is
a single juvenile in Prudhoe Bay, AK, Aug. 25 1991.

*** Now the bad news...

While we were watching it, the birds started stirring. At one point none
of us could find it. Finally, Nigel said he found it, and it soon
flushed. For about the next 5 minutes, Nigel watched it fly around and
around, higher and higher, and eventually heading southeast until it was
too far away to see, even as a speck, in his scope. I think he watched
it migrate...

-------------
Michael R. Smith
Univ. of Washington, Seattle
whimbrel at u.washington.edu
http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html