Hi Tweets, I picked up two new birds this morning on the outskirts of Elma.
I drove out to the end of Newman Creek Rd. at about 6:45am. Immediately
upon exiting my car, I heard a call that I haven't heard before. Then I
heard another sound that had me really wondering what I was hearing. The
call was a nasal "beeerzh" and the other sound was a hollow "whoosh." Well,
I finally found the bird circling overhead and watched it circle then dive
over and over again. The "whoosh" sound was made at the bottom of dive. It
was overcast at the time so I couldn't see any coloration really except for
white patches on the underside of each of its wings. So with that I dived
into my Sibley's guide and decided that it was a Common Nighthawk. I
confirmed that's what it was when I got home by listening to my bird song
CD. Score one new bird for me!

The second new bird was one that I briefly saw yesterday in the same
location. A small warbler with a gray head, yellow belly, and white
crescents above and below its eye. The bird didn't sing at all but after
seeing it twice now I'm pretty much decided its a MacGillivray's Warbler.

Also, today when I pulled into the driveway here at home, a very loud
Pileated Woodpecker was in one of our neighbor's fir trees. We've had
several Chestnut-backed Chickadees in the yard lately and had our first
Wilson's Warbler yesterday.

Good birding,

Tim O'Brien
Elma, WA
mailto: kertim7179 at centurytel.net