Tweeters,

This morning, June 22, the ALDER FLYCATCHER was still present and
singing loudly and very frequently near the Marblemount boat launch in
Skagit County, where it was found by Scott Atkinson on June 20, and as
described below by Gary Bletsch. The bird appears to have a large
territory which extends on both sides of the trail near the small pile
of rocks that Scott left there. The trail heads south along the Skagit
River and then east along the Cascade River, bending back a bit toward
the parking lot for the boat launch. At times, I could hear the bird
singing from the parking lot, even though the pile of stones (which is
close to the center of the territory) is, as Scott said, about 500
yards down the trail.

The flycatcher was singing steadily, with brief pauses, from about
9:15 to 10:00 AM while I was in the area. By stalking the bird, I was
able to approach within 20 feet of it a couple of times, and recorded
some easily-recognizable tapes of the song (despite the laughable
nature of my equipment-- a Radio Shack cassette recorder with cheap
built-in microphone). If you can get close enough to a singing bird,
it is possible to get recordings that are OK for documentation, even
with dirt-cheap equipment. I will be submitting the tape to the
Washington Bird Records Committee. Great find, Scott, and thanks for
letting us know promptly!

Also seen and heard at Marblemount:

LAZULI BUNTING-- 2 males singing in boat launch area, plus one more
on the west side of Marblemount

TURKEY VULTURE-- 6 circling about over the boat launch area (largest
group I've seen in Skagit County-- how many carcasses are there
around Marblemount??)

AMERICAN REDSTART-- 1 male heard singing in dense woods along Highway
20, about 1/4 mile west of the bridge that leads to the boat launch
(or about halfway between the Marblemount Drive-in and Sandy's Country
Store.

BLACK SWIFT-- One seen flying low over Marblemount.


Other birds noted in nearby areas:

Rockport rock quarry (about a mile east of Rockport on Highway 20, as
noted by Scott in his message)-- 1 NASHVILLE WARBLER singing in
shrubbery, several hundred feet above the highway but clearly audible.
I could not find the DUSKY FLYCATCHER reported by Scott.

Newhalem Ponds (as described on page 129 of the Birder's Guide to
Washington)

VEERY-- 1 heard calling loudly and repeatedly at the gate, right
where I parked my car, but did not sing and was not seen.

AMERICAN REDSTART-- 1 immature male seen, singing persistently near
the larger pond; possibly a second male (hard to be sure, because the
first one was moving around a lot).

VAUX'S SWIFT-- At least 10 birds, mostly flying low over the large
pond and dipping their bills in the water (!). I'm not sure if they
were drinking, or snapping small insects off the surface like swallows
sometimes do.

For lack of time (I left at noon), I did not check the County Line
ponds, which are 1.7 miles farther west on Highway 20 (right at the
Skagit/Whatcom county line), where Scott found 3 Redstarts on Sunday.

I was surprised not to see any other birders at the Marblemount boat
launch. Does everyone already have Alder Flycatcher on their state
list? :-) :-)

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net



----- Original Message -----
From: Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 21, 2004 9:44 PM
Subject: Marblemount Alder Flycatcher Yes


> Dear Tweeters,
>
> Thanks to Scott Atkinson for letting everyone know
> about the Alder Flycatcher. This evening (Monday, June
> 21), Howard and Thais Armstrong and I went up and
> found the bird, right by the cairn that Scott had
> left.
>
> We had parked at the boat launch lot, walked the trail
> downstream, turned left at the confluence of the
> Cascade and Skagit Rivers, and walked a few hundred
> feet until we came to the cairn. The bird sang from a
> brushy tangle to the right of the trail. This tangle
> is at the edge of the riparian habitat along the lower
> Cascade River. Later the bird flew to some small trees
> in a field, from which it sang in the open. At that
> point, we were looking from the trail towards a large
> house, with the bird sometimes silhouetted against the
> house.
>
> We heard the Alder Flycatcher give its "rrree-beep!"
> song many times. Willow Flycatcher songs had awoken me
> at my house this morning, as they often do--the bird
> we were listening to in Marblemount was not a Willow
> Flycatcher. We also heard the Alder Flycatcher give
> the "pip" call several times; it also gave its
> abbreviated song a few times. Never did it give any
> vocalizations characteristic of Willow Flycatchers.
>
> We had distant but reasonably good views of the bird,
> perhaps a hundred meters away, but for some reason,
> none of us had brought a scope.
>
> However, I was able to get some video of the bird. The
> song is plainly audible on the tape, although the
> image of the bird is not good enough to identify
> it--even if it were possible to do so on looks alone.
>
> On the walk back, we heard a Willow Flycatcher giving
> its "wit" call, from brush near the Skagit River. The
> difference between its calls and those of the Alder
> Flycatcher was striking.
>
> Thanks again, Scott!
>
> =====
>
> Yours truly,
>
> Gary Bletsch
>
> near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington
>
> garybletsch at yahoo.com
>
>
>
>
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