Tweets,

While on the subject of difficult flycatchers, I was camped Friday night at Lewis and Clark State Park between Waitsburg and Dayton in Columbia County (pg 514 in _A Birder's Guide to Washington_) and woke to the song of a "Cordilleran Flycatcher" which I was able to record, more or less. It was very actively moving about, mostly in the eastern half of the campground, singing quite consistently from mid-way up in the cottonwoods and pines in this riparian woodland. I judged it a "Cordilleran" and not a "Pacific-slope" by range, but also by the quality of the song and the somewhat more two-parted call. It called only occasionally amidst the singing.

Opperman et al. say of the Cordilleran that it "may occur in Southeast, but evidence contradictory, incomplete. Best to call all Washington birds Pacific-slope until status of this recently-split species pair can be resolved" (pg. 574). I don't think there's any question but that the breeding "Western Flycatchers" (as we used to call them) in southeastern Washington are "Cordilleran." The only ambiguity and contradiction involves the question of whether "Cordilleran" and "Pacific-slope" flycatchers are two species or one geographically variable species. The late Ned K. Johnson -- who wrote the monograph that justified the split -- included a Blue Mountain specimen from Washington in the set of examples he used to define the "Cordilleran Flycatcher" and published a sonograph of a song of a bird recorded at Kamiak Butte as a typical example. Whatever the proper species name for these birds, it is not "Pacific-slope Flycatcher."

The key feature of the song seems to be the structure of the third note, whether rising or falling, as the call notes are variable.

I heard another along the Touchet River in Dayton and they are quite common in riparian woodland in adjacent Oregon, e.g., along the Umatilla River.

Western Flycatchers in Spokane, Stevens, and Ferry Counties (and in adjacent British Columbia) apparently change gradually from "Cordilleran" to "Pacific-slope."

Gene Hunn.

PS: I stumbled on the Biscuit Ridge hummingbird haven quite by accident late Friday afternoon. It is a great place to visit. There were still lots of male and female Rufous, Calliope, and Black-chinned about and they are quite tame. I'm sure Broad-tailed Hummers occur every year. Last June's bird apparently was just passing through, a bit beyond its normal range. Perhaps late summer would be a good time to look for Broad-taileds, as the pattern in southeastern Arizona is for post-breeding dispersal of rarities from Mexico, assuming we can identify juveniles.

The Green-tailed Towhees were on their usual Biscuit Ridge territory Friday at sunset.