Hello Tweets and other birders,

Today we began our day ay Olympia(Washington State),where a nice gathering of birders assembled along Thomas Street beginning before 7:30am in search of the Redwing. Conditions were very slow with very few Am.Robins noted and by 8:15am many birders had decided to wander and stroll the side streets for the Redwing. The weather turned from cold and cloudy to freezing rain/sleet,but good coverage was made by up to 30 birders from Washington,Oregon,Idaho,California,New Mexico,Texas,and beyond. By around 8:45am a call came out on the FRS radios that the Redwing was spotted,then watched by up to 6 birders for about 1 minute with a group of about 12 Am.Robins on Thomas Street in the tall cherry tree only before flying away to the north in the direction of Harrison Ave. Several of us walked north of Harrison Ave. along Thomas Street,where a large group of Am.Robins was encountered,as conditions became wetter with no sign of locating the Redwing. By 10:30am many of us were still scattered in the area in search of the Redwing,as a few of us walked south of 4th Ave. checking a few unchecked areas. At 10:40am the Redwing was again relocated perched in a lone birch tree at the corner of 5th Ave.and Plymouth Street. Within minutes other birders arrived to the location with the bird in a spotting scope until more birders arrived to obtained fairly good looks at the bird,as it remained in the tree. The bird soon flew off to the south,as many of us attempted to track it down and within a few more minutes the bird was relocated in a dense,wooded alleyway between 6th and 7th Ave. just east of Plymouth Street. The bird at this time was observed only briefly a few times until it was tracked down for up to 18 birders to see and view in several spotting scopes. The bird moved around within the alleyway,but we kept an eye on the bird. The bird eventually flew into a deciduous tree close to Plymouth Street,where additional scoping views were made,then the bird moved back into the alleyway. We soon cautiously tracked the bird down,where the bird was again seen at fairly close range in another deciduous tree. My mother and I left the location at 11:30am for others to keep watching the bird in the rain,so hopefully other will have seen the bird in the afternoon. The Common Redpoll made a mid-morning appearance at the feeders in the alleyway between Cushing and Milroy Streets(south of 4th Ave.)for those that were able to see it. A few other species of note in the general areas,as we walked the many side streets included the following:

1 adult Cooper's Hawk
45-50 Black-bellied Plovers(observed to the west at a distance from the corner of 4th Ave.and Thomas Street,as the flock flew south)
1 Red-breasted Sapsucker
3-4 Western Scrub Jays
2-3 Varied Thrushes


Next, we drove up to the Kent"ponds" and walked to the SW tower via the paved trail,where the Baikal Teal was distantly viewed in spotting scopes,as soon as we arrived at 1:15pm. The bird was viewed prior to our visit according to many other birders we spoke with while we watched the bird. Conditions remained dry under the tower,but a cold wind chilled many of us. The bird was most readily associating close with a fairly tight flock of Green-winged Teal with a few Mallards nearby and at times was viewed well,but not ideal,superb looks due to the dark,dreary conditions. Definitely not the good views we had of this bird yesterday! As several of us trained our scopes on the Baikal Teal looking northeast the bird would often hunker within the flock of Green-winged Teal and also move closer to shore,but still remain visible and occasionally showing itself in full view. We remained until 2pm watching the bird,as new birders from the Redwing to get views of the Baikal Teal,so hopefully everyone got to see the bird through the afternoon. A few other species of note at the Kent"ponds" included the following:

3 male Eurasian Wigeons
6 Canvasbacks
1 female Redhead(presumably the same individual than noted yesterday in our posting)
18+ Ruddy Ducks



Good Redwing and Baikal Teal searching,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net