Hello Tweets,
Earlier this evening I happened upon what appeared to be an Empidonax
Sp. flycatcher in North Creek Park in south Snohomish County. The bird
was somewhat hidden and I was not able to get much visually other than
a rounded head and a few flicks of the tail, but the bird was
singing/calling and close enough that I pulled out my phone and
recorded a brief clip knowing that song would actually be the
preferable way to ID it. When I got home I compared it to the
recordings on the Stokes CDs, but to my ears a lot of it sounds to
similar to be certain. Willow Flycatcher would be expected (and were
seen there today), but this is nothing like the Fitz-Bew song I'm used
to.

Below is a link to the MP3 file of the song. This was recorded with a
smartphone so quality isn't great, but I'm hoping it's enough for
someone with better ears for these species to give me an ID.

http://sdrv.ms/QNXICk

The day was pretty good for other birds as well. At some point all the
shortebirds in the back pond were spooked by something and along with
the Spotted Sandpipers and Killdeer that are always there a much
larger bird flew over me calling distinctly. Upon reviewing my
recordings I confirmed it had been a Greater Yellowlegs (first record
in the park that I'm aware of). I was thrilled to have multiple
Western Wood Pee-Wee's calling from the end of the north spur. Not a
rare bird by any means, but in 16 visits over the last 5 months I had
never had them in the park. In the same area I had a silent Willow
Flycatcher and a very shy Wilson's Warbler. The Wilson's has been seen
in this location several times recently and I suspect it may be
nesting nearby. Lots of juvenile's around as well including House
Finch, American Goldfinch, and Marsh Wren that looked almost too young
to be out of its nest.

Josh Adams
Lynnwood, WA