[obol] Re: Our trip to the Central Oregon Cascades
- From: "Tom Crabtree" <tc@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <oregonmax@xxxxxxxxx>, "'Mike Patterson'" <celata@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:15:00 -0800
Max,
No, your initial thoughts were probably not correct. Black-capped Chickadee is
an exceptionally rare bird in Deschutes County. I have lived here 33 years and
only seen them three times in the county. When they do show up here they are
invariably in riparian habitat, usually along the Deschutes at lower elevations
like Lower Bridge out of Terrebonne. If you are in Ponderosa Pine habitat, you
are in Mountain Chickadee territory. There are zero documented records of
Black-capped Chickadee for the Sisters area. [And there are as many valid
records of Black-capped for Sunriver as there are for Inca Dove]. When I see a
list from this habitat that reports Black-capped Chickadees and no Mountain
Chickadees, I know I am dealing with a hasty ID.
People assume that if they don’t see an obvious white eye line the bird must be
a Black-capped. That simply is not the case. During certain stages of molt
the eye line can wear away or even disappear during the summer months. Even
with no eye line a Mountain Chickadee is obvious with its gray, not buffy,
flanks. Also during summer there are a lot of juvenile birds around who give
some strange sounding calls.
Visitors to Central Oregon should assume that any Chickadee they see here will
be a Mountain Chickadee and document anything that isn’t. Treat every Chickadee
that you believe not to be a Mountain as if it were a Boreal Chickadee. You
certainly aren’t going to cavalierly report one of those on OBOL without
documentation.
Tom Crabtree, Bend
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Max Smith
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2014 10:42 AM
To: Mike Patterson
Cc: OBOL
Subject: [obol] Re: Our trip to the Central Oregon Cascades
While birding the Sisters area on July 5th, I glimpsed what appeared to be a
Black-capped Chickadee at Barclay Drive Meadows. A few seconds later, Sarah and
I heard calls that sounded more lBlack-capped than Mountain. I second-guessed,
however, when I saw that Black-caps are listed as rarities for Deschutes County
on eBird. Now I wonder if we were right the first time.
Max Smith
Portland
On Sat, Jul 12, 2014 at 12:35 PM, Mike Patterson <celata@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Teresa, Michelle and I have just returned from an week of visiting
the Central Oregon Cascades including Crater Lake, Newberry Crater and
other high elevation tourist destinations.
Notable bird species on the trip include WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER at
Klamath Marsh and Cold Springs, PINYON JAYS in Bend. And yes, it was
me who reported the BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES in Deschutes County (Cold
Springs and Sisters). I down-graded them on eBird to chickadee sp.
since I have no pictures and failed to adequately document them. I can
say with confidence that they were not Mountain Chickadees...
I debrief on the trip at:
http://www.surfbirds.com/community-blogs/northcoastdiaries/
Additional photos at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mbalame/collections/72157645594533826/
--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
String Theory
http://www.surfbirds.com/community-blogs/northcoastdiaries/?p=2182
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