On May 6 I was pulling Scotch Broom at the Steigerwald Lake Refuge at
the mouth of the Columbia Gorge in Clark County near Washougal. As I
drove out across the fields a small flycatcher flew from a blackberry
patch to the next one along a fence line. I stopped about twenty feet
from the bird and was surprised to see that it was all gray without any
tinge of yellowish and had a inconspicuous eye ring. When the bird moved
to the fence line I observed it slowly lowering it's tail in a
phoebe-like manner. This is the first record of Gray Flycatcher that I am
aware of for Clark County. The Sage Thrashers at Clark College and
Steigerwald Lake last month were the second and third record of this
species for the county and the continuing Black-necked Stilts at the
Ridgefield Refuge are the second group of these waders for the county.
Earlier this spring we had several county reports of Calliope
Hummingbirds, perhaps we should check carefully for more displaced birds
from East of the Cascades during this migration.
Wilson Cady
Washougal, WA.
gorgebirds at juno.com