Subject: Redpoll irruption, Skagit WMA 11/25
Date: Nov 26 05:40:33 2001
From: Scott Atkinson - scottratkinson at hotmail.com



About 11 am on Sunday, Nov. 25, it was redpoll-rama up on Fir I. I had a
frosty-looking female "HOARY" type amidst a flock of 20 or so COMMON
REDPOLLS in the alders near the Visitor Center at the Skagit WMA
Headquarters; the birds were mixed with about 200 siskins and there may have
been more redpolls than my estimate. The "Hoary" was notably whiter on the
tertials and underparts than the other redpolls; it did have a couple of
streaks on the undertail coverts, but the rump was unstreaked white, and the
flanks were indistinctly streaked. Overall the bird was very frosty and
white. My previous experience with Hoaries includes seeing birds in w. AK,
on the Kamchatka and (once) offshore in the Bering Sea during October. Of
course, as Hal Opperman alluded to, it is another question whether this is a
good species or not.

There were two other COMMON REDPOLLS along Mann Rd. just east, in the
company of siskins (and I had another bird fly right over our house in Lake
Stevens on Saturday, Nov. 24, new for the yard list). Other highlights on
Fir I. Nov. 25 included a nice movement of shorebirds at the Snow Goose
Preserve, primarily Dunlin and BB Plover, but I also lucked out with a
single SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER that made two vocalizations, a very late
individual. There were several other dowitcher, sp. (silent) and at least
one LEAST SANDPIPER.

All in all a nice way to return from the latest Russia trip, which placed me
in w. Siberia, which is not known for many birds in early winter (I did
manage, among 25 species, to find a female DARK-THROATED THRUSH (Turdus
atrogularis a.), a hardy thrush that actually winters in small numbers in
southern parts of Siberia).

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
email: scottratkinson at hotmail.com

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