Sitka Nature

• Warm sun, cool breeze; gulls and sparrows calling and the smell of dead fish. On the beach at Totem Park. #
• Watching weather radar to get an idea about bird migration. http://bit.ly/LzQnW #
• Moon watching to see if I can spot any birds flying by on their migration. #
• Enjoying the views and trying not to get blown over by the stiff wind blowing across the Bear Mountain ridge I'm mKing my way down. #

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• Listening to night migration flight calls. Low clouds seem to be keeping them low… Some sound like they're barely above the trees. #
• Just saw a prob Merlin take a LESA right in front of me. Close enough to hear the whoosh… Was a little startling. #
• Standing in a sharp rain drive by a stiff SW wind trying to find shorebirds I didn't recognize for a better look. Success seems unlikely. #
• Possible Western Wood-Pewee behind the house. Flycatching from top of tree; seemed small for Olive-sided. Scared off by Merlin flyover. #
• Just got back from kayaking around Crescent Bay. Saw hundreds of phalaropes (which is why I went) plus a fairly early Horned Grebe. #
• Just got back from a 10+ mile kayak around the causeway (plus a little more). Lots of swell made things interesting; fortunately no chop. #

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While walking at the park yesterday morning, Connor and I noticed this fog/mist hanging over the river. Connor thought it was from the stink of the dying salmon, since he had apparently previously seen it on the flume when salmon were dying in it. I’m not convinced that’s what it is from, though I guess it might be related to the fish in the stream (I don’t really remember whether I’ve seen it when there aren’t salmon in the river).

Mystery Flycatcher photo composite

My son pointed this bird out to me this morning as we were on our way to Totem Park. It was perched at the very top of a mid-sized Sitka Spruce and I saw it do a flycatching loop once or twice before it seemed to vacate its spot when a Merlin flew by, after which we continued on to the park.

It was too far (high) to get a very good look, even with binoculars, but based on what I had seen, I was confident that it was a flycatcer, and thought it might be a Western Wood-Pewee based on behavior and an impression of size/shape (that is, it seemed a bit to small/squat for an Olive-sided Flycatcher based on my very limited experience).

When we got back a while later, we saw the bird had moved to a snag not too far from where we had first observed it. Though the light was better, the new preferred perch was even higher and further back than the first had been. I watched it for a while several different times during the day, and it was still actively flycatching from the snag until around sunset at least. The first time I saw it there was shortly before noon, so it had been there for at least 8 hours, and probably a couple more.

Though the bird was too far away for any chance of a quality photo, I took many in hopes that they would show enough details to allow for a better chance at a positive identification. I have included the best of these in the composite shown above. My best guess is still Western Wood-Pewee. The behavior certainly fits. However, some of its plumage characteristics raise questions in my mind. In particular, it seems to be rather pale breasted, the wing bars seem to be a more pronounced than I might expect, and there’s a pale area between the eye and the bill. Still, I’m not sure what else it could be. I wouldn’t be surrprised if these questions can be explained with lighting and/or variability in the species, so I’m hoping others with more flycatcher experience might help me out.