Willow Flycatcher, Empidonax Traillii

Day 280: Last night, a geocache was published in LaGrande and I was certain that the Eatonville crowd would be stumbling over each other in the hopes of being able to claim "first to find." I knew better than to bother trying to get there before them. I'm farther away, and in any event, they'd probably have gotten the notification on their cell phones long before it ever hit my computer. I didn't even bother looking at the listing when I got up this morning, but when boredom set in and I decided to go birdwatching in Ohop Valley, I said, "What the heck, might as well pick up that cache while I'm at it." Oddly, no one had logged it. I saw that there were two people tracking it, usually a pretty good indicator that there's something wrong with the coordinates or that the hide is harder than the ratings suggest. Still, it was en route (more or less...a section of the road was closed, necessitating a detour), so off I went. I was pleasantly surprised to find a blank log book when I got there. Now I'm wondering what happened to the Eatonville cachers!

Then I was off to my real mission for the day: trying to capture a Yellowthroat with the camera at the Nisqually Land Trust property where I am a Site Steward. Oh, I heard them in abundance, but the little stinkers were staying in cover. I spotted Cedar Waxwings at a distance, and as I was training the lens on them from a bridge, movement below caught my eye. I saw a flash of wings, followed them to some brush overhanging the creek, and from the flight pattern, I was sure I was seeing Flycatchers. Since I've observed and confirmed Empidonax traillii at this location before, I was fairly certain that's what I was seeing.

Flycatchers are masters of camouflage, and I shot up several dozen frames trying to get a photo which would demonstrate how neatly they blend into the background. Their pale overall coloration and darker wing markings effectively conceal them in the habitat of dried reeds and twigs. Seen against murky, brownish stream water, their colors resemble the sparkle and shimmer. As I watched, several birds made repeated short flights, tagging the surface of the water with their beaks and wings, returning to the tangle of branches with tasty bugs in their mouths. Like fish, they followed the "hatch," first working from the brush, then shifting position to a small stump in mid-flow, then back again to the brush. They were amazing efficient at their work.

Birdwatching is of course one of my favorite sports, but couple it with another recreation such as hiking, bicycling or geocaching, and I'll have to say you'd need to work hard to top that. Flycatchers are the icing on the cake!