Hi Tweeters,

A late morning tour of the Arboretum and adjacent Foster Island was productive for migrants this morning. While a lot of areas were fairly dead, I found a couple of hotspots -
1 - the tops of large, mossy maples in the center of the Arboretum seemed to be very attractive to warblers, allowing one to sort through them before succumbing to "warbler neck".
2 - Foster Island's north lookout on Union Bay had a lot of activity, I'm guessing b/c birds were hesitant to fly across the bay (that must be why there were multiple Savannah Sparrows there).
This seems like it might be a good place to walk thru in the morning in the next few weeks.

The highlights today were:
MacGillivray's Warbler - a male skulking, Arboretum
Black-throated Gray (1-2), Townsend's (1), Orange-crowned (5+), and Yellow-rumped Warblers (scads, the majority male Audubon's) flitted in the treetops
Hermit Thrush - 2, Arboretum
Pacific-slope Flycatcher - 1 singing, Arboretum
Hutton's Vireo - 1, Arboretum
Cooper's Hawk - a vocalizing adult in the center of the Arboretum, I'm guessing near a nest site
Red-breasted Nuthatch - if interested, I "digi-videod" a bird that posed while vocalizing above its nest site, which it enters at the end of the video. I did some reading, which indicates that this is its "vibratory call", given by both sexes, and associated with the nesting site at the height of breeding season (video works best if you press play and then immediately pause to let it load fully, then click on full screen and play):
http://www.vimeo.com/11245980

Good birding,
Evan Houston
Seattle, WA