Hello Tweets, finally have good news to report on the R/E VIREO hunt.
Success! This was only my 1 billionth time searching the Cottonwoods along
the Black and Chehalis Rivers for this little bugger. Just as I was
deciding to pack it in one more time I heard one bird singing from across
the river along Independence RD in the SW corner of the county. There is a
large pulloff here and a view of a bend in the river (south of the turn for
Michigan Hills RD). Gary Wiles had seen a Red-eyed Vireo here about a week
ago and I'd been back a few times without success. Also here was a
chattering BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, Rough-winged Swallows, 1 Red Crossbill flyby, 3
SPOTTED SANDPIPERS and a hen COMMON MERGANSER w/6 chicks in tow.

I also made a few stops elsewhere in Thurston County during the day:
North Point - Olympia:
No sign of the Brown Pelican or Heermann's Gull (haven't seen the gull since
I first posted) this AM.
1 Pigeon Guillemot

Luhr Beach -
3 Common Merganser
2 Osprey
6 Bald Eagle
Caspian Tern
20+ Bonaparte's Gulls
Purple Martin

110th ST bridge (between Littlerock RD and Delphi near the town of
Littlerock) -
1 Virginia Rail
1 Mourning Dove
3 Common Raven

Gate RD (some stops along Gate RD near water and Cottonwoods) -
2 Mourning Dove
1 Pileated Woodpecker
3 W. Scrub-Jay
1 Bullock's Oriole

Scatter Creek WMA (near Grand Mound) -
2 Red-tailed Hawk (1 juv)
W. Wood-pewee
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler (heard only)
5 Western Tanager
4 Chipping Sparrow (1 juv)
W/Crowned Sparrow
Had a juvenile sparrow that I was unsure about. Seemed too large for a
Savannah Sparrow, and the wing bars were probably too strong too. Could a
W/C Sparrow have these markings?: heavy malar stripe, pale throat, dark bar
at the rear of the auriculars, broken eyeline, pale pink bill, weak tan
supercilium, BUFFY chest w/ streaking throughout, faint streaks extending
down the sides, pale legs, streaked brown back, double wing bars. I was
expecting it to be a W/Crowned, but I can't find a decent photo/drawing of a
juvenile bird (I assumed Sibley had many juveniles, but when I went home to
check most were drawn too small to help or were absent). The chest and face
pattern was what threw me. Any ideas? Guess I do need to get that
Beadle/Rising Sparrow book after all.

Jason Paulios
Jpaulios at earthlink.net
Olympia, WA