Tweets,
Saturday was cool (34 at 6:30am) and overcast. At 1:30pm I heard a SAW-WHET
OWL sing for maybe 10 seconds. I returned to the location (atop Blumaer
Rd/Hill) in the evening to verify, and it sang nonstop for what seemed like
3-4 minutes. Pygmies sing quite regularly in daytime but I've never heard
Saw-whet. Is this unusual? [I believe late April/early May is the only time
I've ever heard Saw-whets sing unsolicited.] At the same location I observed
two dark ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERs together. My guess was that these were a
different race migrating through, going by the color, behavior and
vocalization: not the distinctive sibilent/semi-explosive "shep" given on
territory (or that's the association I've always made) but the weak,
nondescript "seet" heard in the fall. Is there a distinct migrant race
passing through our area?
Other migrants:
- GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWs at nearly every location, brambles and woods
alike, though relunctant to come out of hiding
- HERMIT THRUSH and LINCOLN'S SPARROW still passing through
- MACGILLAVRAY's WARBLER numbers perhaps tripled from a week prior, many I
suspect in passage
- Singing RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET (1)
- HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER (1) in passage
- YELLOW WARBLER apparently still hadn't quite reached Tenino, but found one
~5 miles west down Scatter Creek
- No confirmed SWAINSON'S THRUSH yet
Good birding!
--Paul Hicks, Tenino, s. Thurston Co
phicks AT accessgrace.org