Hello Wayne,
I am glad to find out it was you what spotted the Alder Flycatcher. There
was a big controversy about this bird and many birders put this species on
to there list. I went with Patrick later and we combed the area up and
down, even ask the only owner of this whole area to go on to his property,
but to no avail. I believe that you saw this bird, but thinking having a
good photo from both species would also be OK and accepted. This is the
year from 1991 to this day me and my Son Patrick been repeating this trip
every year without one year we went to Montana instead. We fall in love
with Okanogan, and mostly all the time staying on Palmer Lake Camping. The
only bird we don't have yet is the Boreal Owl going up on Long Swamp. This
year i took a friend and misset the Great gray Owl with there young, but we
try to squeece 2 weeks in to 3 days that also including looking for
Dragonflies, it was to much of a rush to enjoy the birds. The area on
chopaca road where the Long-billed Curlews are nesting and mostly all the
Bobolinks where are all flooded, so we had them even right on the road. I
Believe this area from Loomis down to Chopaka road are the biggest
population of Bobolinks in our state.Iam waiting to the weather get's
better to go back to Okanogan around in the Molson area close to the border
for the rare Dragonflie:Boreal Whiteface this is the only area where there
be found sofar.
Ruth Sullivan
Tacoma




----------
> From: WAYNE WEBER <WAYNE_WEBER at bc.sympatico.ca>
> To: TWEETERS <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; BCINTBIRD
<bcintbird at egroups.com>; INLAND NW BIRDERS <inland-nw-birders at uidaho.edu>
> Cc: RUTH SULLIVAN <godwit at worldnet.att.net>; EUGENE HUNN
<hunnhome at accessone.com>
> Subject: Re: Alder Flycatchers
> Date: Sunday, June 27, 1999 12:29 PM
>
> Dear Tweeters, Gene Hunn and Ruth Sullivan,
>
> Gene was quite proper to question the Alder Flycatchers reported
> recently. There are no accepted records for Washington, and as Gene
> says, any reports need to be documented by a tape recording of songs
> and calls.
> For the record, I am the person who was responsible for the Alder
> Flycatcher report from Okanogan County in 1991, which I discovered
> while doing field work for the Breeding Bird Atlas. The bird in
> question WAS an Alder Flycatcher. It was singing persistently, as if
> on territory, from a flooded willow thicket along the Similkameen
> River northwest of Palmer Lake (near the Canadian border) on June 1,
> 1991. I immediately realized the importance of tape-recording this
> bird's songs, but although I had a tape recorder, I did not have any
> blank tape. By the time I returned the next day with some blank tape,
> the bird was nowhere to be found. I reported the sighting to the
> Seattle RBA (that was in pre-Bird Box days), but no one else could
> rediscover or confirm the bird. Given that Alder and Willow
> Flycatchers were officially "split" only in 1973, and that many people
> have difficulty separating their songs and calls, I chose not to
> submit an official report to the Washington Records Committee of a
> bird that was certain to be rejected anyway. I feel quite strongly
> that it is important to document a first state record by a photo
> (useless for Alder Flycatcher) or tape recording, especially for
> hard-to-identify species, although written field notes may be adequate
> for an easily-identified species seen by numerous observers.
> Gene's comments may be misleading in one sense, when he stated
> that "Willow Flycatchers...sing rather variable songs". Having heard
> hundreds or thousands of Alder, Willow, and other Empidonax
> flycatchers over the years, I can detect little or no individual
> variation in songs of Alder or Willow Flycatchers. The ordinary
> territorial songs of both species (and of most other flycatchers) are
> remarkably stereotyped, and Willow and Alder songs are as distinct
> from each other as are the songs of any other 2 Empidonax species.
> (This lack of individual variation is in contrast with birds like the
> Song Sparrow or Bewick's Wren, in which each individual has several
> different song patterns, and no two individuals have the same
> repertoire of song patterns.) However, Willow Flycatchers do have a
> vocalization which is either a call-note or an abbreviated song-- it
> could be described as an emphatic "fwee-beer!"-- which can confuse
> birders sometimes.
> Attempts to phoneticize bird songs are crude at best, but next
> time you hear a Willow Flycatcher sing, listen carefully to it.
> Although the song is described by Peterson and others as "fitz-bew",
> there are actually two different phrases, each with the first note
> highest-pitched, which are given alternately. I phoneticize the song
> as "fwitch-be-heer! fweep-a-deer! fwitch-be-heer! fweep-a-deer". Each
> of the 2 different phrases is distinctly 3-noted, not 2-noted. The
> alternation of 2 different phrases is common in flycatchers; other
> examples are Western Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe and Black Phoebe.
> Hammond's and Dusky Flycatchers, by comparison, each have 3 different
> phrases in the song, which are given in a somewhat variable order.
> The Alder Flycatcher, on the other hand (like the Least Flycatcher
> and some other Empids) has a single phrase in the song. It can be
> described as a burry "ree-bee-wip!", with the second note
> highest-pitched. To me, that sounds closer than "fee-bee-o". (Oh, for
> a sonagram or two!)
>
> Birders should be alert for the possibility of Alder Flycatcher in
> Washington. It is one of the most likely species to be added to the
> state list. The normal breeding range of Alder Flycatcher in B.C.
> extends south at least to Revelstoke on the Columbia River, and the
> southern edge of the Cariboo Plateau north of Kamloops and Clinton.
> (It should be noted that the research of Robert Stein, which resulted
> in Willow and Alder Flycatchers being "split", was done mostly near
> Williams Lake, B.C.) There is a record of an Alder Flycatcher on
> territory near Vernon, B.C. from June 8 to 28, 1984 (Cannings et al,
> Birds of the Okanagan Valley, 1987); its song was tape-recorded. I
> have had records of Alder Flycatchers singing on territory in the
> Nicola Valley of B.C. on two occasions. One was along the Nicola River
> west of Merritt in June 1980 (present for at least 10 days), and the
> second was in a brush thicket near Brookmere, SW of Merritt, sometime
> in the 1980s (date not handy at the moment). Brookmere is only 91 km
> (57 miles) north of the Washington border. There is also a fairly
> well-documented record of a singing Alder Flycatcher at North
> Vancouver, B.C. (multiple observers), although that bird was not
> tape-recorded.
> Alder Flycatchers probably reach B.C. by migrating east of the
> Rockies and crossing the Rockies north of the U.S border, as do some
> other birds like many Bobolinks and many "Myrtle" Warblers and other
> "eastern" warblers. This, plus the fact that Empids generally do not
> sing while migrating, may explain why there are no confirmed
> Washington Alder Flycatchers to date.
> I am still chagrined over my failure to tape-record the 1991 Alder
> Flycatcher, and I always keep several blank cassette tapes in my car
> now. (Closing the barn door after the horse is gone???) You don't get
> too many chances to add a species to a state list, and I muffed my
> chance. However, one of these days, someone will find a singing Alder
> Flycatcher in Washington-- most likely in the northern part of
> Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, or Pend Oreille County. As with my bird, you
> should not really expect anyone to be convinced unless you can
> tape-record the song (or unless the bird sticks around for a few
> days). So, Washington birders-- take up the Alder Flycatcher
> challenge!!
>
> Wayne Weber
> 114-525 Dalgleish Drive
> Kamloops, B.C. V2C 6E4
> Phone: (250) 377-8865
> wayne_weber at bc.sympatico.ca
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ruth Sullivan <godwit at worldnet.att.net>
> To: hunnhome at accessone.com <hunnhome at accessone.com>;
> tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Date: Sunday, June 27, 1999 9:37 AM
> Subject: Re: Alder Flycatchers & Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
>
>
> >Hello Eugene,
> > I am glad you responded to the ALDER Flycatcher.I remember the
> sighting at
> >the Ornithological Okanogan convention in 1991 there was an possible
> Alder
> >Flycatcher found on Chopaca road near Palmer Lake. I believe it never
> got
> >confirmed, this is the only sighting I ever heard of in washington.
> >Ruth Sullivan
> >Tacoma
> >
> >----------
> >> From: Eugene Hunn <hunnhome at accessone.com>
> >> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> >> Subject: Alder Flycatchers & Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
> >> Date: Sunday, June 27, 1999 8:11 AM
> >>
> >> The last Bird Box summary had two separate reports of "Alder
> Flycatchers"
> >> (at Juanita and near Carnation). This is most unlikely, as there is
> no
> >valid
> >> record for Washington. Willow Flycatchers are indistinguishable
> visually
> >and
> >> sing rather variable songs that can seem to match the Anglicization
> cited
> >in
> >> guides "Fee-bay-o." Any suspected Alder Flycatcher needs to be
> documented
> >by
> >> tape recordings of it songs and calls.
> >>
> >> Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have turned up a few times near Seattle,
> >typically
> >> in early summer. In fact, one male frequented a feeder south of
> Issaquah
> >on
> >> the lower slopes of Tiger Mountain about 10 years ago and
> apparently
> >> attempted to breed with a Black-headed female. This is close to the
> Swauk
> >> Mtn. sighting. It is, of course, very rare and should be carefully
> >> documented. I'm sure many observers would love the chance to see
> one in
> >> Washington, so, if circumstances permit, details as to location,
> etc.,
> >> should be shared promptly.
> >>
> >> Gene Hunn.
> >