Howdy folks! Maybe I'm crazy, but there's a small bird that's been hanging
out just north of Marymoor in the trees along the slough. Until this
morning my wife and I had only heard it (a short, two note song, even
accents on both notes, first note higher than the second). I had listened
to much of my Western Bird Songs CD trying to figure it out, but had no
luck. This morning it came into a pine tree right behind my apartment, and,
while midly shy, it was only so shy as to change branches, not fly off
completely. It was the size of a goldfinch (which is what I thought it was
at first, but I've *never* heard this call come from a goldfinch), with a
faintly yesllow breast, dark legs, small beak, medium gray wings with two
noticeable white wing bars. I wathced it for a good 15 minutes, and
finally came back in, grabbed my field guide, and after much hunting
through, and listening to the songs of all the birds that even looked
close, the only one that matched was the Yellow Bellied Flycatcher. The
song on the CD matched what I was hearing, but was a slightly higher tempo.
Same tone and pitch however.

Dowe get YBF's migrating through this area? I don't see it on the
Washington state list, and my field guide only lists it as a summer
resident in Northern Canada. Have I got a bird song CD which is deficient
and it really is just a molting goldfinch? Am I simply hearing and seeing
things?

Steve Mansfield steve at nwnet.net
NorthWestNet Network Engineer 425-649-7467