Just returned home from a wonderful day of birding. Saw Walter's post as well on the update. It is a young bird, it is also probably a male but am not willing to fully call it that. I've placed a heavily cropped photo on my Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52299853 at N08/

As you can see in the photo, the bird has extensive barring on the breast. I agree with Walter that the bib is extensive. Holt in his recent paper commented that bib is usually reliable, but in extreme cases females can also have an extensive bib. From what I saw of the tail, it looked to be minimally streaked which would point towards male. Based on these traits, I'd say it was a young male, though it might possibly be a young female. Would love to hear others opinion on sex of the bird.

The swans found by Phil Mattocks and Steve Hall yesterday on the CBC were present on what is now a frozen pond on Bender Road just east of intersection with Reecer Creek. There was some confusion yesterday over the identify of a third bird. Based upon the looks I got this morning just after first light, there were 1 Trumpeter Swan and 2 Tundra Swans. I called the third bird a Tundra based on small size (same size as other Tundra next to it), shorter bill than the Trumpeter, some yellow in front of eye and shorter dish shaped bill than the Trumpeter.

More on the Teanaway Redpolls-- this morning I located three flocks of Common Redpolls on North Fork Teanaway Road between MP 7 and 11. For those not familiar with area, take HWY 970 east from Cle Elum, turn left onto Teanaway Rd. In a few miles this forks into West Fork (left) and North Fork. Stay on the North Fork. The redpoll flock with the Hoary was about 1/4 mile north of this intersection, coming down to the road to feed on road grit.

In addition to the larger flock of about 150 birds than contained the Hoary Redpoll, the other flocks were much more flighty and each contained 50-60 birds. I was able to search the flock near MP 11 thoroughly and determine they were all Common Redpoll. The other flock, closer to MP 10 flew quickly upon initial discovery and couldn't find the birds again when I came back down the road. I viewed the Hoary Redpoll off and on for about 15 minutes-totaling about 2 minutes of actual observation time. The birds wouldn't allow for approach closer than about 50 yards, so photos weren't possible. I tried to call the Hoary closer by playing it's call. This was more on a lark as the two calls are fairly similar and it was unlikely that the Hoary would respond. As I figured, three birds did come much closer but they were all male Commons. I'll submit further details to Ebird and the WBRC. Brief details are that it is a male, so very pale pink breast and only upper breast. The bird has a single slim streak on the undertail coverts (visible if you can get it zoomed in) and it can also be picked out by quite a bit of white in the secondaries and coverts.
I did call a couple of people known to be in the area and that area will be covered tomorrow on the CBC, so perhaps it will be refound. As I said in my earlier email, it took me 40 minutes to find the bird, so patience is probably needed in a flock this size.

Scott Downes
downess at charter.net
Yakima WA