AlexHenry

Visual identification of Meadowlarks is dubious at best of times...

Yes this is a Least Sandpiper. Understanding of the plumage? I don't know, I guess its just an ugly one. It looks like its in the process of molting. If the bird is unhealthy the molt may not proceed as normal, as growing new feathers is energy and nutrient intensive. Adult Least Sandpipers undergo a complete molt between late July and late September.

Based on the leaves in the background in the second photo, habitat looks much better for Alder Flycatcher than Willow Flycatcher (i.e., it is in an Alder, not a Willow). You should call it Alder.

Good luck! I suggest studying the calls first. Like other finches, they call while flying and that’s a pretty good way to find them. But I find that their calls can be a little confusing with Rock Wren songs - maybe that’s just me though.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch and Black Swift

From shore - Pink-footed Shearwater

TLDR: Hammond’s are brighter during fall migration, Duskies are brighter in winter

I disagree. Note that this picture was taken in February. In late winter, Dusky Flycatchers are usually brighter and more contrasty than Hammond’s, because they molt after migration and are very fresh in late winter. Hence the bright colors and contrast. Here’s a passage from a Kenn Kaufman bird guide: (note especially beginning of the 2nd paragraph) On the other hand, Hammond’s molt earlier in fall, and so are duller in winter.

Here is a Hammond's Flycatcher, an empid that lives in coniferous forests in the pacific northwest, which has long primary projection. Note that the primaries extend beyond the end of the undertail coverts. It has been my observation that generally on a perched Hammond's Flycatcher the primaries extend beyond the undertail coverts, while Dusky Flycatcher's primaries do not reach the end of their undertail coverts. But that is kind of beside the point. Regardless, Contopus species like Western Wood-Peewee and Olive-sided Flycatcher are structurally quite different than Empids, with proportionately longer wings and shorter tails, and overall much larger size. If the bird you saw was Yellow-rumped Warbler sized, then it was probably an empid...

Cool that you got to see the Pygmy-Owl!

I disagree with Hammond's Flycatcher, I like Dusky Flycatcher. The bill is medium length, not obviously small like many Hammond's. The head is more rounded than Hammond's, (not hind peaked like Hammond's), the throat is a pretty clean white (Hammond's throat is usually more grayish), it also has obvious pale lores, and also it has an overall relatively long-tailed look.

Sorry you haven't gotten any responses. Probably because very few people know enough to answer you. I certainly am not confident IDing these species, beyond by range - unless I hear a distinctly disyllabic call. Yes this call is monosyllabic, which is not standard for Cordilleran but occurs fairly regularly. The "kink" typical of Pacific-slope is very weak, if at all present, in this recording - hence a very "straight" spectrogram. It definitely seems promising for Cordilleran to me, but I just don't know enough about IDing these species to be confident it isn't Pacific-slope. I'm interested to see what the outcome / final verdict on this bird will be! (Hopefully it isn't one of those birds where there is no final verdict.... I'll take a common species over a lack of closure any day).

Blue Jays and corvids in general have very variable vocalizations - they have large vocabularies - so sometimes they’ll make unexpected noises. That being said - As @CoastieBirder mentions, your description sounds spot on for a Black-capped Chickadee song.

Did you hear it vocalize? Mature fir forest sounds good for Hammond’s Flycatcher, which has pretty long primary projection (for an empid). Did you notice if it had an eye-ring? Wing bars? What size was it - warbler size, or significantly larger than that? As a side note: Another measure of primary projection I have become interested in is length of primaries vs length of under tail coverts

The juvenile Broad-winged Hawk has horizontal barring on the tail and vertical streaking on the belly