Hi Tweets,

Kelly McAllister writes:

>The Cinnamon Teal has me wondering. I think of cinnamon teal as breeders
>in Washington that make a pretty early fall get-away and don't show up
>again until late winter/early spring. What can others add about cinnamon
>teal in Cascadia during late fall and winter? Are they anywhere regular
>during this time period?

In any given winter in Vancouver BC, there may be one or two, sometimes
more, overwintering. Much of the problem in telling how many there are
actually is that there are miles of ditches and sloughs with no public
access in the Greater Vancouver (BC) Checklist Area, and CITE loves to hang
around in ditches, often palling around with Blue-winged Teal; if you find
one, wouldn't hurt to look for the other.

It's also very hard to establish northbound arrival for this species as
'early' reports in late February-mid-March are likely birds overwintering in
these unsurveyed locations then moving around to more public sites. Probably
the best way to distinguish between locally-wintering birds and bona fide
migrants is to wait until the first fully Alternate-plumaged birds arrive in
groups or in pairs; here, that's Week 2 April, while the last flock (~5
birds) is usually outta here Week 2 September. Remember that as a rule,
arrivals at a given site in either direction are earliest on the outer coast
and progressively later as you move inland.

Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with style!
Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
mprice at mindlink.net