On Halloween morning we had a short break between storms. The sun actually came out for a few hours, so I headed across the street to rake up more maple leaves. I kept hearing this persistent bird in our holly tree whistling like a chickadee, but not exactly. It makes me crazy to hear a bird I can't ID in our own backyard. With my Birds of Seattle and Puget Sound, I can usually cut to the chase in a hurry. Unless it's some exotic migrant blown off course (and this has never happened) the birds in our neighborhood are always in this book. But this one was a plain LBB (Little Brown Bird) so it took me quite a while to find it. Finally! Hutton's Vireo. Here's a quote:
It is a year-round resident of Seattle's thickets, but it is never so common that it fails to challenge the birdwatching community. They are relatively inconspicuous, and are usually noticed only because of their monotonous, ceaselessly repeated 'zwee-zwee-zwee' song.
Hutton's Vireos eat insects and spiders, and we have plenty of those. Here's a view out the window when the sun came out that day-- like living in a real haunted house on Halloween.
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