Hi Tweets,

Rob Saecker writes:

At 1:57 PM -0800 1/27/98, Michael Price wrote:
>> But what was the context? The habitat? Where was the bird calling
>>from? How often? What else was in the vicinity?

Hah! Wotta bossy bunch of questions! Sorry if that seems hectoring in tone,
Rob; it's just a checklist of questions I'd normally be curious about
written down as they occurred to me. Thinking out loud--no bossiness intended.

>Habitat: cedar/fir/alder/maple forest surrounding a small (<half acre)
>clearing.
>Context: about 7:30 am, half a dozen song sparrows singing, one winter wren
>likewise.
>Bird was calling repeatedly from the upper part of the canopy, near the
>edge, but I could not see it.

That location doesn't sound quite like pewee somehow: usually, they're in
the open out on a snag or at the top of a tree. Hmm. Thinking back about
them, there's never been a calling pewee I haven't seen--they just seem to
be one of those species which is always in the open and easily visible when
it calls.

>Varied thrush have been regular visitors in
>the yard since the snow, and they were here last year as well, so I have
>some familiarity with their calls. This didn't sound like a thrush to me,
>but I could be wrong. I still think starling is most likely, though I'd
>rather it wasn't.

Given the tree species-mix, the location of this bird, and that you weren't
able to locate it as it called repeatedly, I like Chris Chappell's
suggestion of Hutton's Vireo Vireo huttoni better than flycatcher, starling
or thrush.

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)