Birds are singing in the rain, discovers Seattle Bird Dude

Area birder Bill has been staying hone in May and June when it rains. He did go out in the early part of the year with an Audubon group, but it was miserable to look for sea birds in the heavy rain.

He is a businessman, semiretired, and says he "does not know this biology and ecology stuff." Just now he is picking out the habitats of area song birds for nesting. "They quit singing when the eggs hatch, I think."

Bill has been carrying a smart phone with apps and spent three hours in rain listening to birds, pulling out the smart phone in gaps in the rain. "I also discovered nice Wellingtons and wool socks. I went to the store where the hunters go. That's where I upgraded from Nikons to Swarowskis too."

The big surprise was that "birds don't quit doing their bird stuff just cause it rains a little." Bill got both Willow and Alder flycatchers, pretty good for a second year birder. He is working on the other two Empidonax species, Pacific Slope and Cordilleran. He just has to go to Olympia national park for the first one.

"They go suweeat and pit-peet, but they both have a high thin peet as well."

We'll leave you to it Bill. Bill has discovered what many birders do: their spouse is just not quite into it so much. His wife likes waterfowl and cranes, which Bill showed her on a trip to Idaho. She does not care for any bugs at all, so the Pacific rain forest is out of the question for trips to bring her.