Maggie, thanks for your report from the southwest corner. Sounded like
good birding.

I'd be remiss if I didn't respond to a few of your sightings, for the
tweeter reader assemblage as well as yourself. I think many of the field
guides can mislead in all sorts of ways, so I offer constructive feedback.

Tattlers were probably Wandering; Gray-tailed is only an accidental visitor
to the Lower 48.

Dowitchers are more likely to be Short-billed, much more common and an
earlier migrant than Long-billed.

Hummingbird is not likely to be a Calliope, which would be very rare down
there. Rufous is common, and the two females can be difficult to
distinguish. "It looked like that picture in the field guide" is by no
means a definitive identification in some cases (sorry to be such an
iconoclast).

Female Wilson's Warblers don't sing; that's a male job.

It's kind of silly for someone to tell you that a Merlin you saw was
"probably a Peregrine," as both are fairly common and both harass
shorebirds. The Merlin indeed has a less prominent "mustache" and hood.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416