Birders,
Okay, not all of Oregon...lets limit it a tad. For instance, today I
birded Tillamook and found most of the ebird flag-stars. At Tone Rd. there
were some White-crowneds, a bunch of which were Z.l.pugetensis, by far the
most common subspecies in western OR. There were also a few birds that
looked like they were Z.l.gambelii . In the ebird app, the selection
choices were: White-Crowned Sparrow, White-Crowned Sparrow
(Yellow-billed) and White-crowned Sparro (pugetensis). I had never
encountered "yellow-billed" before so I wondered......
It turns out that this "yellow-billed" designation is for Z.l.
nuttalli/pugetensis. Hmmm. I had always just thought in western OR it was
kind of a choice between Z.l. pugetensis and Z.l. gambelii and so it
was.... off to the resources!
Nat. Geo. 7th ed. shows Z.l.nuttalli way down in northern CA and extending
S from there. A quick, not overly thorough look at Birds of N. Amer.
online says that, of the 5 subspecies, 4 are migratory and one is
sedentary; that sedentary one is Z.l, nuttalli. Also, for what it's worth,
if one simply googles "yellow-billed white-crowned sparrow" the first hit
brings up some outfit which, curiously, is called CCNAB --Classic
Collection of North American Birds---but the link seems somehow show some
connection to BONA online which was not at all apparent?--- and in which,
in any event, they state flatly that "yellow-billed" is Z.l. nuttalli
If I got all this right, it would seem, that the "yellow-billed" is
referring to a subspecies that doesn't really show up here in W. Oregon and
so I might suggest *keeping *the 3 designations in the app but
*changing *"(Yellow-billed)"
to (gambelii). Happy to hear what others have to say on the subject. Oh,
I have no idea who the ebird reviewer is for Tillamook so.....
good birding, Tom
