Jack Castro wrote:

[Snoqualmie Pass]
>I also spotted some sort of fly catcher that I could not identify. It appeared
>to be about the size of a cedar waxwing although maybe my binoculars just made
>it look that big. In any case, it was yellow-olive (more yellow than olive) on
>its breast and brown on top with two prominent wing bars. It would perch near
>the top of a spruce, then fly out a few feet, grab an insect, then fly back to
>its perch, or to another perch on a nearby tree. It hardly stayed at its perch
>more than 5 seconds before flying off to grab another bug. Watching for a few
>minutes, I noticed that there were at least 4 of these birds in a loose flock
>slowly moving across the mountainside feeding on the insects flying near the
>tree tops.

Welcome to tweeters, Jack. Is there any possibility that what you saw were
Cedar Waxwings? They are constantly flycatching at this time of year, and
they go in flocks. Everywhere I go, there have been groups of waxwings
sailing around the sky, including over my back yard. No flycatcher travels
around in flocks in this region. Similarly, no flycatcher that I might
have guessed (Olive-sided, for example) has prominently yellowish
underparts. You obviously know what a Cedar Waxwing is, but the immatures
are duller than the adults, and they might be confusing if you couldn't see
their prominent crest. However, I can't explain "two prominent wing bars,"
which are not characteristic of waxwings.

>I also saw passed by a few flocks of kinglets and saw two thrushes of some sort
>on a log acros the trail. I did not get a good look at them before they flew
>away.

A spotted thrush in the mountains at this time of year is almost surely a
Hermit Thrush.

>I broke up one cookie and tossed it a few feet away from me. With no
>hesitation, one of the jays flew down, grabbed a piece and flew back to its
>perch. This was repeated by the other jays until the cookie pieces were gone. I
>had been reading a book on hand feeding wild birds, so I decided to see if I
>could get them to feed from my hand. I broke up another ginger snap into into
>aobut 8 pieces and stretched out my hand. With no hesitation, one of the jays
>flew down, landed on my hand, grapped a cookie piece and flew away. Within 20
>seconds, 4 jays landed on my hand and finished the cookie.
>
>I did not feed them after that as I felt guilty already for feeding them in
>this unnatural way. I know gray jays tend to be friendly, but I did not expect
>them to be that tame.

Gray Jays everywhere seem to do this; I wouldn't worry for a second about
feeding them in "an unnatural way." What you are giving them is only a
tiny part of what they are cacheing for the winter, some tens of thousands
of items. And after all, *we* consider those cookies edible!

[Ridgefield Refuge]
>Later that afternoon, while walking in a field, I spotted two black-billed
>magpies on top of a tree. While I was watching, one of them flew off the tree,
>grabbed some big bug out of the air and returned to the tree. I was surprised
>to see the magpies since my Peterson's guide does not show Western WA as part
>of their range.

That's a rare find indeed. Magpies aren't normally in western Washington,
as you wrote.

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