I went to see the Redwing again this morning (successful) where I
met two birders from Calgary (Mike Mulligan & Hank Vanderpol) who
wanted directions to Kent Ponds to look for the Baikal Teal. As it
was on the way back and I was thinking of going there anyway, I led
them there. The ponds were at least half frozen (which perhaps made
the ducks more concentrated and easier to see) but we found no teal.
However we ran into Kevin Aanerud who was very excited and reported
having just seen a Least Flycatcher. He had lost track of it but
after looking for the teal I was able to relocate the flycatcher
about an hour later (I am guessing this is about noon today -
Wednesday). I first saw the bird accross the street and slightly
south of the pullout for the grassy knoll. There is a empty lot
here edged with trees and brambles and it was at the far end (almost
to the next street). This is where Kevin reported seeing it last.
It worked its way along the north edge of this meadow perching in
small bushes and sometimes dropping into the grass until I followed
it all the way back to 64th Ave. I then lost it but refound it
about 15 minutes later on the grassy knoll (which is where Kevin
first found it). Several other birders who were there also saw it
(Walter Nakatikatsu and Steve whose last name I did not catch).
While I am reluctant to call any empid without voice confirmation I
did check my references when I got home and Least does indeed seem
the best candidate though any empid in January is remarkable. Some
of the features I noticed were:
a) proportionately large round head with grayish coloration
b) fairly conspicuous complete or nearly complete eyering (this
varied somewhat with the way it held its head feathers and the
eyering seemed more conspicuous on its right side than on its left)
c) fairly short primary projection
d) frequent upward tail flicking
e) wide but not terribly long bill with mostly orangey yellow lower
mandible.
f) moderate length tail
g) there seemed to be some white on the eyebrow/lores as if it some
of these feathers were standing up a bit and we could see white
feather bases or down underneath. One person said it suggested a
Golden-crowned Kinglet a bit with a slight supercilium

Now none of my references had much to say about what these birds
should like in January when they are supposed to be in Central
America.

Jim Elder
2472 Lorentz Pl N
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 283-0330
delderson at archerserve.com