I was in the Inspiration Point parking lot about dawn with the intention of hanging out in the dip for an hour or two, but I'd wildly misinterpreted my weather app and found, surprise! blowing fog. I considered suiting up and going on down, but when I opened the car door the wind was so loud! So I drove down to the Nature Area with the intention of walking up to the Lake but somehow started up Lower Packrat instead. Good thing, because this was about 7 am and about 7:30 the chainsaws and heavy equipment started up. By then I was sitting on the bench at the top of the trail, and while they were annoying they weren't as immediate as yesterday at the Lake. My list was the same length as yesterday but different, and I heard some very interesting vocalizations. The Swainson's Thrushes were making lots of "whit" calls and some of their weirder calls, and they also sang occasionally. I could hear a White-breasted Nuthatch somewhere, and a Western Flycatcher's little chip note, which I hadn't heard in a while. Best of all was the "wheeuw" call of a juvenile Black-headed Grosbeak mixed in with adult pik calls. The call was moving about, so presumably it was a fledgling; August 26th seems a bit late for this. Most amusing was a California Quail somewhere to the east whose call made me think not of "Chicago" or Vallejo" but "what the hell? what the hell?" ( The list: )

I went back the way I'd come and walked around the perimeter of the picnic area for a ways. When I pulled out my phone, merlin suggested Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and I said, oh, sure. I mean, it had suggested Western Barn Owl earlier, and I'd never found a BGGN right in Wildcat Gorge. But then I heard it! So I apologized to merlin.

Lower Packrat Trail was beautiful this morning but, as I've been saying for weeks, quiet. Swainson's Thrushes were calling but I heard not even a piece of a song. Wilson's Warblers were chipping and occasionally singing and I heard three singing Orange-crowned Warblers, which continues to surprise me. Those were all the migrants I encountered, but U and Chris found a Black-headed Grosbeak and a Warbling Vireo! At this point we assume they are migrants moving further south but who knows? ( The list: )

Along the way I heard several birds singing quietly, as though trying out song phrases. I couldn't be certain of their species but it's always very cool to hear.