Tweets - my wife, Janka, and I joined Sharon Aagaard and Mark Crawford for a
hike up Robinson Canyon in Kittitas County today. We had a great trip.

The rarity highlight was a LEAST FLYCATCHER singing in a small grove of
young aspens a couple of hundred yards past the second stream crossing.
That was one of 8 species of flycatcher, and not our only surprise.

Near the parking lot at the end of the road, we had a singing WILLOW
FLYCATCHER. Further down the road, we had WESTERN KINGBIRD, EASTERN
KINGBIRD, and SAY'S PHOEBE. Further up the trail, we had PACIFIC-SLOPE
FLYCATCHER and DUSKY FLYCATCHER. WESTERN WOOD-PEWEES were everywhere.

Other birds along the paved part of Robinson Canyon Rd. included
YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, GRAY CATBIRD, and BLACK SWIFT.

Shortly after we started hiking, Janka spotted a baby WESTERN SCREECH-OWL in
a hole in a cottonwood. It turned out there were at least 2 babies in the
hole, and an adult (unseen) nearby that called.

We had both ROCK WREN and CANYON WREN calling from the cliffs. COMMON
NIGHTHAWKS were seen over the cliffs and heard several more places.

Janka was startled by a "BLUE" GROUSE - assumed to be a SOOTY based on
location, habitat, and the fact that it was calling from well up a tree.

We had several LAZULI BUNTING, CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD, MacGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER,
and NASHVILLE WARBLER, one or two TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES (including one
singing), and a VEERY heard.

A good collection of butterflies too (mostly at horse manure piles), and
other bugs too.

It was a great day - I think 59 species for the day.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at verizon.net