Subject: [Tweeters] Blue-headed Vireo?
Date: Jun 16 13:16:45 2005
From: MarkJHoust at aol.com - MarkJHoust at aol.com


Yesterday Tom Munson and I found a vireo in a lodgepole pine forest that
sounded like a Red-eyed. But it was a Solitary type, and looked a little
different from the typical Cassin's. Actually it was difficult to get good looks at
it, and good pictures, but the white throat, contrasting dark gray hood, and
yellow flanks could be seen occasionally. Maybe these photos are enough to
cinch an ID; the song was strikingly different from Cassin's.

The site is in Pend Oreille Co. along Dry Canyon Rd. This is not far east of
the Pend Oreille River, between Usk and Sullivan Lake. Access is north from
the east end of the bridge at Usk, through the Kalispell Reservation, past the
River Bend community, to (another) LeClerc Creek Rd jct. Take this paved
road off the river road a mile or two to a Y, where there is a house with a
strikingly gorgeous yard. At this yard take the road to the left, called the West
Branch LeClerc Creek Rd. Follow it north into Dry Canyon from this spot for
about eight miles, where the best landmarks are the power poles, which have
easily seen numbers. The pole where the vireo was singing about as incessantly
as a Red-eyed is numbered L 69, and is at a bend in the road. There is also a
family of Black-backed Woodpeckers in the area, which apparently recently
fledged from a nearby nest.

<A HREF="blue-hd vireo">www.pbase.com/clinton62</A>

Look at the "recent" photos.

Mark Houston
Spokane