Today I made my second attempt to spot the Common Redpolls reported by Mike
Ramos and others. I got to the park at about 7:45am. Quite a few birds were
singing. There was a nice mix of GC and RC Kinglets, Song and Fox Sparrows,
Robins, Flickers, 1 Downy, Bewick's Wrens, an Eagle and calling California
Quail.

I searched Alders for about 45 minutes with no luck. No trains were going by
but about a dozen little vehicles equipped for the rails made plenty of
noise as they went through. I met another birder there, Kay and we both
search. Time was running out and I needed to get to work (sometimes work
really gets in the way of birding). Kay went over the bridge to the beach
area and I was about to get in my car when I saw a flock of 5 small birds
fly to the top of an Alder. With a quick look I thought it may be Redpolls
but they quickly moved down to another group on trees. I scampered along and
from about 60 feet directly under the birds I was able to view them. I had
my camera with me and took some real hideous shots from that angle. No good
looks at the Red on the crown but you can tell they are Redpolls.

Then they flew away and unfortunately Kay returned just after they left. I
hope they came back for her to see later.

Anyone interested in really bad photos of the Redpolls can see them below.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=223603

I always post my bird ID questions there so I don't spam all the great
people on Tweeters.

Best regards,

Doug Schurman
NE Seattle
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seattlebirdman/