Greetings,
On the spur of the moment Joan Stockton and I took off this afternoon for the Three Forks Nature area in Snoqualmie. It was a very rewarding trip.
On the way up there we stopped at Tokul Creek because Joan had never seen a Dipper. There we met Dave Templeton who was photographing a RB Sapsucker at its sap wells. The dippers weren't as quick to show up as I have seen them there before but eventually we did see one fly into the nest a couple of times. Dave told us that they had already fledged a brood so they must be working on a second clutch.
After a few minutes of watching the dipper do deep knee bends we continued on to Three Forks. There were way more mosquitoes than birds but we did find the Lazuli bunting. We saw a pair who we watched copulate in a twiggy bush on the left side of the trail a short distance in.
We may have seen the Least Flycatcher too but it was silent. All I can say for sure is we saw a small flycatcher with an eye ring.
On our way out we came across Ollie and Grace Oliver who reported seeing the Gray Catbird. Ollie took us and another couple to where he had seen it and with only a little searching we relocated it. Actually getting good views was a little harder but patience paid off. The last we saw of it was when a RW Blackbird drove it away.
I added species # 200 (Catbird) to my life list and Joan had her first looks at Willow Flycatcher, Catbird and the dipper we saw at Tokul Creek.
Linda Phillips
linda_phillips1252 at msn.com<mailto:linda_phillips1252 at msn.com>
Kenmore 98028-2616