How about another one? F. The Chats and the Yellowthroats love technophiles. Tom Crabtree, Bend From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Paul Sullivan Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2014 11:23 PM To: obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [obol] Why did the Oregon 2020 Morrow County blitz find... Why did the Oregon 2020 Morrow County blitz find two species I've never found in ~30 years of birding there, Common Yellowthroat and Yellow-breasted Chat? Craig Corder lived in the area and actively birded the county for a half a century, and he rarely found those species. They're not easy. The Breeding Bird Atlas data show only possible breeders in a few hexagons. I found 214 other species before these two. Possible reasons: A. The blitz birders made a mistake. There are no yellowthroats or chats in the county. NOT LIKELY. B. The blitz birders are better birders that I am. C. The blitz birders applied more hours than past birders have. GIVEN THE EFFORT OVER YEARS OF SEVERAL LISTERS, I WOULD QUESTION THIS. D. The protocol of the Oregon 2020 sampling scheme sent people to places a birder wouldn't likely go. THE ATLAS PROJECT SENT ME TO PLACES I OTHERWISE WOULD NOT HAVE VISITED. I PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO CORNERS OF MORROW COUNTY. My effort to SEEK TARGET SPECIES for my county list took me to likely locations for those species. E. There are MORE chats and yellowthroats in the county now. There has been a range expansion since the Atlas project. ISN'T THIS in part WHAT OREGON 2020 IS TESTING? We'll see when the data are in. We've seen an increase in locations where chats are found here in Yamhill County in recent years. Just food for thought. Anyway, I'm glad they're out there. Good birding, everyone, Paul Sullivan