Tweets,
Just returned from a 3 day tour of eastern washington from Ellensburg, through Ferry County, Okanogan Highlands and back to Ellensburg today. I'll let Charlie Wright post the highlights as he kept the notes for our group, however I thought I'd post seperate the details of a female HOARY REDOPOLL that we had yesterday 1/26/02 in Chesaw, Okanogan Co. The bird was viewed well through the scope behind the Chesaw Store. Details of the sighting are below. Though we had cameras and camcorder, the bird was still too far and too flighty to get close enough for photos, so scope views had to be enough to record notes.

Details:
1 fem HOARY REDPOLL chesaw, okanogan co.
12-12:20. Seen with approximately 75 commons.
Most field notes were recorded:
Shorter bill than nearby commons
Absolutely no streaking on center of breast and only light streaking on sides and flanks.
Slight buffy coloration to the face.
The "poll" was a darker red than the nearby commons
Rump (both lower and upper) had no streaks
Undertail coverts had 1 fine streak
Mantle was a lighter gray that the commons.
Scapulars were much more noticable and lighter than the commons.
Had a "cleaner" overall look to the bird.

Observers: Scott Downes, Charlie Wright, Fred Boeche

Good birding all.

Scott Downes
downess at cwu.edu
Ellensburg WA