>Tweeters,
>
>Today, at the South Tacoma Wildlife Area, I saw an American pipit working
>the shoreline of one of the newly created (dug last fall) ponds. I haven't
>noticed much mention of pipits in the various species lists on Tweeters.
>This bird caught my eye as it walked swiftly along the barren shoreline of
>the pond. As I got close I noticed the buffy color on the throat and
>breast. I was wading around net-sweeping for invertebrates, fish, and
>amphib larvae and didn't have binoculars but I approached fairly close and
>watched it pump its tail up and down. When it flushed I clearly saw the
>white outer tail feathers. Perhaps pipits are frequent during migration
>here. However, I have only seen them in the alpine on Mount Rainier during
>mid-summer so the migrants have eluded me until now.
>
>On May 2, a merlin crashed into one of the large windows of the Department
>of Transportation building on the Capital campus of Olympia. I saw the dead
>body which was in excellent condition and Joe Buchanan informed me it was of
>the columbarius subspecies and a certain migrant. I believe the woman who
>brought it by is going to deliver it to some worthy museum, probably The
>Evergreen State College (sorry Dennis).
>
>Kelly McAllister
>alleyes at tssnet1.tss.net


Kelly. I believepipits are vastly undercounted as both spring and fall
migrants in WA. In spring, they are passing north in incredible numbers, but
often high overhead, often 1,000 m above the ground. Climb any high ridge
west or east of the Cascades and if you are atuned to their "sip-it" call,
you will surely note pipits - from mid-April through 10 May, some into
mid-May as they pass over you.
In my opinion, not all descend to the ground while on passage in WA.
Its possible numbers approxim,ating those of the many millions of
White-crowned Sparrows are cruising right over us.

Today, while on Washout Gulch NE of Moxee, I was surprised to note 25 or so
pipits descend seemingly from the stratosphere to the cheatgrass plains. A
100 m away was a ephemeral brook which I suspect attracted them, possibly a
semblance of the alpine or arctic watercourses to which they're headed.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA