[obol] Nashville Warblers (was: more Eugene migrants)
- From: "Wayne Weber" <contopus@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "OBOL2" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 23:15:38 -0700
Oregon birders,
As someone who does a lot of birding around Vancouver, BC and Bellingham,
WA, I can assure you that Nashville Warblers are not regular breeders
anywhere in the Puget Trough in Washington or southwestern BC. They do
breed in small numbers around Hope, BC and between Newhalem and the Ross Dam
in WA, which are on the west side of the Cascades, but they are uncommon in
this area. Once one crosses over to the east side of the Cascades, they
become one of the commonest breeding birds, mostly in Douglas-fir forest
from about 2000 to 4000 or 5000 feet altitude, as far north as the Williams
Lake area of BC. Their breeding distribution does not seem to have changed
much in recent years.
Around Vancouver, Nashvilles are regular but rare migrants in both spring
and fall. Most records are of single birds, but I have on rare occasions
recorded 2 or 3 birds in a day. However, it does not surprise me to hear
that they are much commoner migrants around Eugene, considering that much of
their breeding range lies north of Eugene, and that they are very common
over much of that range.
Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus@xxxxxxxxx
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of David Irons
Sent: April-20-14 10:37 PM
To: OBOL Oregon Birders Online
Cc: rjm284@xxxxxxxxx; Brad Waggoner
Subject: [obol] Re: More Eugene Migrants
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 handful 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, Clark 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
Other related posts:
