Greetings All,
I just received a private note from Wayne Hoffman in response to my comments
about the interior form of Ruby-crowned Kinglet. My captions might be
interpreted to suggest that the interior subspecies does not occur west of the
Cascades. As Wayne rightly pointed out privately, the subspecies calendula does
pass through western Oregon as a migrant and at times (particularly later in
spring migration) may be the most likely seen form, as locally wintering
grinnelli have already departed. I have on occasion seen calendula on the
westside, typically at migrant traps like Mt. Tabor in Portland and Eugene's
Skinner Butte. As I recall Mike Patterson has occasionally capture some
calendula at his Clatsop County banding station(s).
Wayne shared this nugget in his note to me and I think it's worth passing along:
"I would add that calendula also migrate through western Oregon in spring,
although they apparently do not breed. I encountered a wave of them at Yaquina
Head on April 19 this year, and got quite a few photos. By this date, the
wintering grinnelli seemed to be pretty much gone."
When birding at higher elevations in the Cascades and particularly the mountain
ranges farther to the east (Blues, Wallowas) during summer, I encourage you to
look for and listen to the locally-breeding Ruby-crowned Kinglets. While doing
Oregon 2020 Project blitzes in Morrow and Baker Counties last summer, we saw
and heard quite a number of calendula Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Their song is a
bit different than what we hear from grinnelli during early spring. Also try to
take a second look at spring and fall migrant kinglets, particularly later
spring migrants as you will likely tease out a few of the larger, grayer
interior birds.
Dave IronsPortland, OR
