Hi Tweets:

I was armed with my notes from previous postings awhile back from fellow
Tweets about where to find the Gray Flycatcher. So I took them with me
when I went to the Klickitat Wildlife Refuge, or whatever it's called,
on Soda Springs Road, going towards Glenwood in Eastern Washington this
past weekend.

Earlier in the day, I thought I saw one, but it flew away too quickly.
But then, on my way out, one was in the oak tree right above the dirt
road where I was driving and I got a long, great close-up. Since I
didn't hear the song, and the description matched the field guide
identical, do you think it is safe to assume I saw it, as opposed to
other Flycatchers that may be in the area that could possibly be
confused with this? I felt pretty certain that it was a Gray
Flycatcher, but having never seen one before and since I'm not an expert
in Flycatchers, I do wonder if it would be one -- based on having just
a visual match from the National Geographic field guide. There were no
olive, brownish or buffy-type washes on it, just plain gray in addition
to the standard field marks as shown in the guide. Or did I need to
hear the song and compare that to others? The habitat was open oak
trees and ponderosa pine within an expanse grassland.

Highlights of other birds seen were a lot of Lark Sparrows, they flew
around in pairs, and a flock of about 30+ American Goldfinches.

Franny Drobny
Seattle, Washington
fdrobny at cairncross.com