>
>I am participating in Cornell's Project Tanager (surveying a few spots
>within Seattle for breeding Tanagers) and I'm wondering if anyone has
>information on the courtship displays and/or the approximate fledging
>dates of Western Tanagers. Today at one site, I observed a male following
>and feeding a female - courtship? BTW, at this site in a one hour
>period, I observed at least eight Cowbirds in the underbrush or flying
>through the terrritory. Is there evidence that Western Tanagers are as
>susceptible to Cowbird parasitism as other Tanagers?
>
>David Buckley
>lsdb at u.washington.edu
>
>
According to _Birds of Oregon_ by Gabreilson and Jewett:

"It begins to build its flimsy nest soon after its arrival in April and deposits
the eggs in May or June. John Hooper Bowles (1902) gave June 4 and 28 as
outside limits of egg dates, but Patterson {no relation} lists sets taken from
May 13 to June 27, inclusive, in the south Cascades."

_The Birder's Handbook_ (Ehrlich, Dobkin and Wheye, 1988) list Western Tanager
as a rare cowbird host. This text list Scarlet Tanager as a common BHCO host.


--
******************************** In the midst of the word he was trying to sa
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * In the midst of his laughter and glee,
* mpatters at ednet1.osl.or.gov * He had softly and suddenly vanished away---
******************************** For the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see.