Tweeters,

I was birding at Hardy Canyon in Yakima County on Saturday evening and
detected what I think may have been a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. The bird was
seen briefly and poorly in the top of the last tall aspen tree on the left
side of the trail (when going uphill) just where the forest ends and the
path enters open terrain. It then flew up the canyon toward the lone
ponderosa pine along the small road (where I've been told last year's
gnatcatcher was seen), but eventually veered off toward the southeast
hillside before reaching the tree, whereupon I lost sight of it. The bird
looked small during my single glimpse of it and appeared to have a long
tail with possible white markings on the underside. It gave a fairly high
and even pitched nasal "see-se-seeee" call that was repeated 8-10 times
before it flew away. The call somewhat resembled the one given on my
"Bird Songs of the Pacific States" CD, but none of the notes had an upward
inflection as on the CD. This leaves me wondering if anyone else has seen
a gnatcatcher at Hardy Canyon this year. Does anyone have a suggestion as
to what other species this might have been?

Gary Wiles
Tumwater, WA
wilesharkey at yahoo.com




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