I thought I was going nuts! On Wednesday morning, I too heard what
sounded like a Clark's Nutcracker on the hillside above my home. The
calls continued (that I know of) off and on through Thursday. Since
then, nadda. There are a couple of shore pine up there, however the
dominant tree is Madrone. The balance is dense shrub with lots of
Poison Oak.

Regarding Purple Martin vocalizations, I'm really bad at this, however
best to imagine Pavarati as a swallow with a megaphone! Ringing notes
with some clicks tossed in. My better half coined the phrase
'chuckle/chirp' to describe the songs of these birds.

The last week or so, I've noticed that our resident Martins are out
flying/foraging above the house until just before nightfall. I've not
seen them in flight in the wee small hours of the night, however, we
commonly here them vocalizing in (or on) the nesting boxes about the
same time we hear V-C Swallows starting up in the morning.

LeslieAnn Rose
Tacoma, WA



Jack Bowling wrote:
>
> ** Reply to note from tweeters at u.washington.edu Sun, 12 Jul 1998 00:08:15 PDT
>
>
> > For the past several days, there has been something occasionally flying
> > over the house, making a call which sounds to me like a Clark's nutcracker.
> > I haven't been able to see it yet, but what the heck would a Clark's
> > nutcracker be doing at (virtually) sealevel? So what else might I be
> > hearing? I can teel you what it's not; no crow I have ever heard makes a
> > sound like this, and it's not Caspian terns (just to head off two possible
> > suggestions).
>
> About the only thing I could say to your query, Rob, is that there is *NO*
> bird that sounds like a nutcracker, at least no North American bird. And yes,
> it would be unusual to see a nutcracker at sealevel unless there was a
> catastrophic failure in the pine seed crops in the hills.
>
> - Jack
>
>
> --------------
> Jack Bowling
> Prince George, BC
> jbowling at direct.ca