The BLACK PHOEBE at the Washougal Sewage Lagoons, Washington, continues as
of about 2:30 pm this afternoon. Gates were open when I got there,
checked with the guy inside the building. He said it was okay as long as
I left my car outside the gate (still probably courteous to check).

I walked down the path and heard the bird before I saw it. It then flew
out the ditch on the right side of the road (the one that basically runs
north-south directly from the gate). It flew across to the cement holding
area that many people had noted.

The bird was vocal, especially in flight--loud pit sort of call. The
flight of Black Phoebe always reminds me of wagtails too. While vocal and
reasonably viewable, the bird was quite active and seemed skittish--I
never got within 25 yards of it. After viewing for a while, it flew out
of the cement containment area to the next pond where it perched near a
tank low on some wires. It then flew towards a scrubby willow area to the
southwest of the sewage area (denoted by NWR signs). The bird couldn't be
seen in this area, but it kept calling pretty consistently. Visual time
sighted was probably about 2 minutes; aural time was more like 15.

Nice bird. Ray K

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Korpi "Television doesn't allow much depth."
Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA --Dan Rather, interviewed by
rkorpi at clark.edu Don Imus, 11/6/97
Compiler, Portland, OR CBC, January 3, 1998
President, Oregon Field Ornithologists
--New members always welcome--