Tweeters,

Kelly Cassidy wrote:

<In the very early morning hours, I sometimes hear a mystery bird singing
in my NE Seattle neighborhood. ("Sometimes" because I'm usually asleep
then.) It stops singing about the time the Robins get into full gear,
about 4 AM, and I never hear anything like it during the day. I heard it
last year during the summer, too.

<It's a nearly continuous string of twangy, short notes. Some notes sound
like those of a Violet-green Swallow, but all the VGSW I hear during the
day "sing" mostly single notes. It is kind of chittery, like a swallow,
and seems to be constantly moving. But what would a swallow be doing up
when all the bugs are too cold to fly? It's not a Nighthawk; I know what
they sound like.

<I know it's a long shot, but does anyone know what it could be?

<Kelly Cassidy>


Denise Caldwell and I had a similar mystery bird at the first stop of the
Bunker Hill Breeding Bird Survey near Longview, WA, on June 15th. This
chitterer seemed to be in the alder trees but constantly moving; then we saw
the bird against the sky at less than 100 feet and were sure from its
distinctive flight that it was a swift, guessing it was Vaux's. We spent 10
minutes observing this bird apparently feeding in the air (on what?) between
4:40 and 4:50 am (when we had to start the survey and move on).
Then--surprise--we had another one at Stop #2, a half-mile down the road.
Both sites are in mixed forest along Abernathy Creek at less than 500 feet
elevation.

Darrel Whipple
Rainier, Oregon
dwhipple at columbia-center.org