Hi Tweeters,

My wife and I visited the Okanogan Highlands from July 4 through July 7. We
had a wonderful time at Lost Lake, south of Chesaw. Lost Lake is a
beautiful lake surrounded by forested hills and the campground is quite nice
except when the Tonasket American Legion is there and it gets quite noisy,
especially their stereo. A pair of Common Loons on the lake have two young
ones this year. Their yodelling was a thrill to hear. Up to twenty Black
Terns were constantly flying over the lake, being mostly concentrated at the
south end.

I stopped on Kipling Road on the afternoon of July 5 to try for the Alder
Flycatcher. I spotted it within five minutes of getting out of the car and
watched it perched and flycatching for several minutes. It didn't sing but I
heard its "pip"call several times which I could compare to several Willow
Flycatcher's "whit" coming from nearby.

I got my tape player and played the Alder Flycatcher section four or five
times. The Alder Flycatcher became very agitated, flying from branch to
branch and bush to bush in front of me. Then the tape player erased that
part of the tape and the show was over.

A person wouldn't want to identify the Alder Flycatcher just on field marks
alone but I think it is fairly distinctive from our Willow Flycatcher. The
head and back are greener, the breast a lighter gray and the belly washed
with light yellow.

Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA
* * * * * * * * * * *
* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* osprey at nwinfo.net *
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