Hi Hendrik (& all),
Thanks for sharing your experience in the Toiyabes & vicinity. That must
have been fun to spend a full field season out there. I've been
following Jen Ballard's blogs from recent GBBO field seasons with envy &
trying to figure out how to get back out there.
My experience in the Warner Mtns agrees with yours & Oscar's. I've only
seen a few "Solitary" Vireos but the ones that I've seen -- including
one family group with juvs. near Willow Creek CG -- all seemed to be
regular Cassin's so far as I was able to get good looks/listens.
However the Warners -- even though always pleasant to think about -- are
kind of a "red herring" in this thread. I've never heard of anyone who
claimed to have found a Plumbeous Vireo in the Warners, at least on the
Oregon side.
All of the OBRC-accepted reports have been from pretty far from the
Warners, either in Harney Co. or (in one outlier) from Portland:
Roaring Springs Ranch, Harney Co., 1 bird 26 May 1992 (photos by
JG).
Hdq. Malheur NWR, Harney Co., 1 bird 25-26 May 2002 (TR).
Fields, Harney Co., 1 bird on 13 June 2002 (TR).
Colony Creek, Harney Co., 1 bird on 23 May 2003 (TR).
Hdq. Malheur NWR, Harney Co., 1 bird on 7 June 2005 (photos by
RHo).
Portland, Multnomah Co., 1 bird on 28 April 2009 (TMc, CrW).
Fields, Harney Co., 1 bird on 9 June 2009 (AC)
Among the "not accepted" reports there is one from Stukel Mountain in
Klamath Co., one from Wallowa Co., one from Deschutes Co., and another
one from Portland -- in other words, all over the map ("snus on a page,"
as Swedes like to say).
I certainly agree that any claims of species that are rare to a state or
region should always be carefully documented, at least if folks who
claim such records want to be believed.
But I still see no reason to discourage anyone from listing SE Oregon
birds as "Solitary" Vireo if they're not sure of the specific ID. That's
a conservative approach that avoids introducing subjective bias into the
data.
Happy birding,
Joel
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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