North Coast Diaries

A rumble in Olympia

The big news in the Pacific Northwest this week is the appearance of a Redwing (Turdus iliacus), in Olympia, WA. This should not to be confused with Red-winged Blackbird. My wife couldn't understand what the fuss was about until I clarified the difference.

And no, I'm not going to argue that it's an escape. I just thought I'd wax on the question "so, are you going up to Olympia to see the Redwing?"

It's a fair question. Olympia is about 2 hours away. Everybody knows I'm a bird watcher. So, the short, polite answer--- no, I'm not.

I rarely chase. My rule of thumb is that if I have to spend more time in the car driving than out of the car looking at stuff, I probably won't go. Life is too short. I don't like driving all that much. Long distance driving? especially around the holidays? No thanks.

But I have a darker reason. I'm a bit of a snob.

By all accounts, this sounds like a classic mob-scene twitch. Way too many birders with 2-way radios, moving enmasse from one place to another any time somebody thinks they saw something. Very few of them noticing any of the other birds in the area or making any real connection with the environment. It's not why I signed on as a birder.

The bird is getting difficult to find, as well. Maybe a natural consequence of bird behavior that has nothing to do with crowds of Subaru driving, L.L.Bean clad, Zeiss wielding twitchers... then again maybe it wants to be left alone. Stories now about the one guy who came in from out of state, very reputable, who says he saw it sans witnesses. A crowd of 200 people with binoculars and this guys manages to see the thing by himself.

Heck, I'm reasonably reputable and I mistake kittens for Catbirds.

Yeah, maybe I'm cynical, but I'm checking the robin flocks in my neighborhood a little more carefully than usual, too. It's not that I don't want to see a Redwing. I just don't want to have to stand in line.

A picture of the Olympia Redwing is posted at Surfbirds Stop the Presses.