[obol] Re: More Eugene Migrants
- From: David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx>
- To: OBOL Oregon Birders Online <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 05:36:35 +0000
Alan and Jeff,
Over the years, dating clear back into the early 1980's, peak fallout
conditions at Skinner Butte (Eugene) have occasionally produced Nashville
Warblers counts of 20+ birds. This is not a new phenomenon per se. I've been on
the butte many times when I estimated that 10-15 Nashvilles were present. I've
never found any other place in w. Oregon where I could see so many migrant
Nashvilles. Perhaps the Hinkles can weigh in with their high counts from Mt.
Tabor, where I can't recall ever seeing more than maybe 5-8 in a day.
I'm not sure that I trust the report of Nashvilles being "regular breeders" at
Bellingham. I look at the eBird maps from Mar-May and Jun-July and there are
just a handfull of lowland pin drops for the entire Puget Trough and nothing
from right around Bellingham. Of course eBird does not capture all reports, but
it usually reveals a pretty accurate picture for stuff like this. If Nashvilles
are now breeding around Bellingham, that would be a very interesting change
from their traditional nesting range and of interest to me and my fellow North
American Birds regional editors for Oregon and Washington. I've cc'd this note
Brad Waggoner and Ryan Merrill, who compile the Washington and pelagic portions
of our seasonal reports. I know that Ryan has done a bunch of recent exploring
in the northern Puget Trough. He, if anyone, would know if Nashvilles are now
breeding in this part of Washington. In the North Cascades, there are numerous
eBird reports of
Nashvilles in the upper reaches of the Skagit River drainage well to the
east-southeast of Bellingham (mostly reports from Ryan Merrill).
In my experience, Nashvilles breed mostly at higher elevations on west side of
the Cascades–they are locally uncommon to common nesters in eastern Linn and
Lane counties. I haven't explored eastern Clackamas or Marion enough to know
their status there, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they are
similarly abundant. Once you cross the Cascade summit (Wasco, Jefferson, and
Deschutes counties) Nashvilles are quite common.
The farthest north I've found summering Nashvilles away from the Cascades is
along the Calapooya Divide sw. of Eugene (down towards Crow and Lorane) and
they are by no means common or even uncommon in this area. I think the Oregon
Breeding Bird Atlas project (1995-1999) found them in that area as well
(Barbara Combs if I'm not mistaken). I remember last summer that Doug Robinson
found a territorial Nashville in the Coast Range w. of Corvallis and he was
justifiably surprised.
Finally, high counts of Nashvilles in the Willamette Valley do not necessarily
indicate that there are breeding birds to the north of us. Nashvilles seem to
arrive via lowland routes and then move upslope with the spring thaw and leaf
out of vegetation. In the late summer/early fall their departure routes tend to
follow the ridgelines that they nest along, with almost no reports of fall
migrants from the Willamette Valley floor. Calliope Hummingbirds and Dusky
Flycatchers are two other species that make a decent W.V. showing every spring,
are generally fairly common summering birds in appropriate upslope habitats to
the east of the W.V. and yet, almost never get detected in the westside
lowlands during fall migration.
Dave Irons
Portland, OR
Subject: [obol] Re: More Eugene Migrants
From: jeffgilligan10@xxxxxxxxx
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 20:53:05 -0700
CC: thomasmeinzen@xxxxxxxxx; obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
On Apr 20, 2014, at 3:38 PM, Alan Contreras <acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:I
don't think I have ever seen 15 Nashvilles in one place in Lane County. I'm
not sure I have seen that many in one place anywhere, not even peak of passage
at Malheur.
-- Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
Eugene, Oregon
In a recent conversation with Bellingham, WA birder, Clake Blake, he told me
that Nashville Warblers are now regular breeders near Bellingham, but that they
were formerly only scarce transients. Perhaps the 15 seen in Eugene is related
to the species increasing its numbers to our north.
Jeff Gilligan
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