Tweeters,

On Saturday, May 16, I led a 8:00-10:30 bird walk at Scatter Creek
Wildlife Area between Olympia and Centralia, Washington. It's
one of those remnant prairie habitats with grassland and Oregon
White Oaks. Pretty good time and place to view the attractive
flowers of prairie plants like Camas, Chocolate Lily, Arrow-leaf
Balsamroot, Shooting star, Lomatium, Blue Violets, and so forth.

Our bird list is not real impressive, none of us could claim to
be expert at song recognition so we heard some species that
probably didn't end up on the list because no one was sure what they
were. Those that we did recognize by sight or song were:

Great Blue Heron
Double-crested Cormorant
Hooded Merganser
Canada Goose
Ring-necked Pheasant
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Rock Dove
American Crow
Northern Flicker
Downy Woodpecker
Starling
Evening Grosbeak
Black-capped Chickadee
Rufous Hummingbird
Western Tanager
American Robin
Brown-headed Cowbird
Red-winged Blackbird
Spotted Towhee
Violet-green Swallow
Vaux's Swift
Song Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Common Bushtit
Purple Finch
American Goldfinch
Common Yellowthroat
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Warbling Vireo


The Warbling Vireo was a highlight because we got a good view and
heard its song over and over. None of us had much experience with
this species.

I did not put Solitary Vireo on the list but we puzzled for the longest
time over a bird singing from the top of a fir tree. It was facing toward
us so we could see the light, immaculate breast, some yellow on the side,
and a very obvious eye ring (however, it was quite a distance away so details
were not well observed). It was singing and we were struggling with the song.
We thought it looked like a flycatcher but the song belonged to no flycatcher
any of us recognized. It was at home with my cd "Bird Songs of the Pacific
States" that I decided it had been a Solitary Vireo.

I do want to go back but I am waiting for a clear, calm morning.

Kelly McAllister