So you expect the birds to look like the field guide pictures? What a
concept! I'd go with the house wren. They don't always cock their tails
up. It's hard to imagine how you could get a 4-noted song out of most of
the flycatchers (maybe the Western Kingbird?). I assume your cabin is in
Ponderosa Pine or Ponderosa Pine/Douglas-fir forest. House Wrens are
very common in those lower elevation forests, and they are definitely
partial to structures. Their song has a bubbly quality, and is variable.

Kelly Cassidy -- Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Box 357980, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195
kelly at u.washington.edu --- 206-685-4195 --- 206-368-8076

On Tue, 8 Jul 1997, Mike Patterson wrote:

>
>
> This is some kind of flycatcher. Phoebes, Ash-throated Flycatchers
> and several of the Empidonax group (most notably "Western" Flycatcher)
> will build nests on beams of buildings. Based on the color and size
> I'd be inclined to go with "Western" Flycatcher... probably Cordilleran
> because you don't mention green.
>
>
> >
> >
> >We have not been able to postively identify this little bird. Nothing in
> >our field guides are an exact match. This little bird has build a nest
> >in the roof overhang on the deck of our cabing in the Eastern Cascades at
> >an elevation of 3,000 ft. It is wren sized, about 4in. It has a creamy/buff
> >underside from tail to chin. It has a bill that looks like it belongs to the
> >fly catcher family, brown on top, sort of yellow on the bottom. It appears to
> >have a lightly striped back and wings. The nest is built of twigs and sits
> >on top of the beams of the deck roof. It song is at least a four note song
> >sort of melodious. It can sometimes end in a trill. I would have guessed it
> >was a house wren, except its tail is not cocked up and might be a tiny bit l
> >longer than I would expect from pictures in the various field guides.
> >
> >Any ideas can be addreased to georgialk at juno.com
> >
> >
>
> --
> *********************************** I got the blues so bad one time
> * Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * it put my face in a permanent frown
> * mpatters at orednet.org * but I am feelin' so much better
> http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters I could cake-walk into town
>