Subject: redpolls on Lummi Flats
Date: Nov 11 20:50:37 2001
From: Hal Opperman - halop at accessone.com


Hello Tweets,

Today JoLynn Edwards and I birded at various sites near Bellingham.
Birding was excellent all around, but the best sightings were on the
Lummi Flats. At noon, we found a flock of about 40 Common Redpolls
feeding avidly in some big old alders bordering the slough along
South Red River Road, three quarters of a mile east of Haxton Way.

This is shaping up to be a redpool irruption year in Washington, with
numerous sightings the last few days in eastern Washington and in the
Greater Vancouver, B.C., area, including along Boundary Bay.

One bird or possibly two in the Lummi flock could pass for a Hoary
Redpoll, although this is a notoriously tricky identification. I had
two sightings some minutes apart, which may have been the same
individual or two different birds. They were identical in
appearance. My eye was drawn to them first by their overall paler
appearance, which on closer inspection seemed largely due to the
lighter background color of the mantle feathers. The flanks were
also less streaked, and what streaks there were, were more lightly
drawn (narrower). The rump was pale, and the undertail coverts
immaculately white. The bill, however, appeared to be within the
size range of those of the Common Redpolls in the flock. There was
no pinkish coloration on the breast, so presumably this was a female.
The rest of the flock provided all the comparative examples one could
wish of Common Redpoll plumage difference by age, sex, and individual
variation. At first, the birds were high in a tree across the slough
from us; we noticed them dangling and fluttering among the catkins,
and heard them twittering as soon as we stopped the car and got out.
After a couple of minutes most of the flock flew to a tree on our
side of the road, and began feeding right in front of us, often on
fairly low branches. So we were able to study many individuals
unusually well.

Also on the Flats was a flock of 135 swans, both Trumpeter and
Tundra. We did not try to count exactly how many of each, but there
was no clear numerical preponderance of one species over the other.
They were in a field on the north side of North Red River Road
200-300 yards west of the intersection with Hillaire Road.

We looked hard for the Broad-winged Hawk, the length of Hillaire Road
and elsewhere, in early afternoon and again later in the day. No
luck. There were several red-tails in and around the cottonwood
plantation, no two alike in size or plumage. And lots of harriers
hunting the fields across the way.

By the way, thank Jack Kintner, if you get a chance, for the
excellent information and wise counsel he has posted on obtaining
birding permits from the Lummi Tribal Office. Good relations make
for good birding.

Hal Opperman
Medina, Washington
halop at accessone.com