I walked Marymoor this morning (nothing out of the ordinary seen, although
numerous hummers - both Anna's and Rufous - at the gardens) and then
McCormick Park in Duvall. About a quarter mile south of the old Duvall
train depot on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail - the north end of the first pond
- I followed a female Bullock's Oriole to her nest hanging in a maple over
the trail. As I was watching her settle, the blackbirds on the pond shore
went into full alert. I saw them chase after a flycatcher-looking bird (but
fairly large) with a black head, white breast and tail with white tip - a
bird that was unfamiliar to me. This bird was not about to be pushed around
by blackbirds and went right after them until the ruckus was over. The
interloper flew into a tree near me and I was able to study it closely.
Using the Morse book, there is no doubt it was an Eastern Kingbird - but I
don't know the sex. I watched (and digitally photographed) the bird for
almost two hours as it went after insects, swooping from the trail side of
the pond over the water to the other side and then reversing the process.
It was very aggressive if any other bird came near it - it took after a
Belted Kingfisher which had landed in the same snag, stood its ground as a
male Rufous Hummer tried to drive it away from low maple branches above the
pond, and it also chased a Black-headed Grosbeak who came too close up over
the eastern shore toward the police station. I watched it from 11:30 until
1:30 and it was still there when I left.

Tom Mansfield, Seattle (tmiseattle at msn.com)