-->>>>>>> Next Section <<<<<<<
Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII

I saw a flycatcher at Green Lake today around noon, but I sure can't
tell
you which one it was. Martin's list of species seen at Green
Lake has only one flycatcher on it: the Pacific slope flycatcher.
So that must have been what I saw, right?

It was doing the off from the branch, chase a bug, and come
back to the branch routine, opposite and just south of
the Bathhouse. When some people asked me what I was
watching, it flew to one of the three large snags south of
the Bathhouse, and did one chase there.

There was a relatively narrow vertical band of the typical
creamy-yellowy color running from the top of the breast
down through the belly. The band had difuse edges and
to either side on the breast were light greyish feathers,
with slightly darker indistinct long vertical striping. There
were two lighter wing bars and, although it may have been
a trick of the light, I was pretty sure that they were a sort of
light orangish brown - more like the color of the wingbars of
the willow flycatcher in the Peterson guide. I'm not saying it
*was* a willow flycatcher, just that the wingbars seemed to
be that color. There was a definite angle, or point, in the profile
of the top of the head, rear of center. There was a thin darker
eyebow "line" and a broad light area surrounding the eye. The
eyebrow "line" seemed to be part of a meandering slightly
darker "line" that roughly enclosed the broad lighter area
surrounding
the eye, except for the the top of the area. The top of the
head was slightly darker than the rest of the head.

I was late for an appointment and so couldn't stay, and I had
only my compact 7X binocs, and nothing to write anything
down with. These birds may be common at Green Lake,
but it's the first one I've seen there. The birds in the guides
don't look quite like the bird I saw, in part because the ones
that are possible don't seem to have that creamy line down
the front. Rather they have a much larger area so colored.
The bird actually did much more sitting than flying; I saw only
three chases plus the flush. Could it have been a juvenile,
perhaps? Or is it too early for that?

Bob Mauritsen
bluetooth at csi.com