Subject: Re: buzz
Date: Jun 8 16:31:12 1995
From: Don Baccus - donb at Rational.COM


Dennis:
> I don't know about omniscient, but I do know one or two things about
> kingbirds. Western Kingbirds are definitely characteristic of dry, open
> areas, while Eastern Kingbirds are devoted to the waterside and very
> typically nest in willows, often at a rather low height but almost always
> over the water, where they are about as well protected from predation as a
> Western is high on its crossbar. Most avian predators don't stand a chance
> against a pair of kingbirds! Their habitat types abut sufficiently often
> so that the species can be seen from the same place at many localities.

Thanks! This fits my observations well. The willows I mention along
gravel roads at Malheur NWR are always along the canals/marsh.

> An EAKI nest on a utility pole crossbar is a real surprise to me.

Which is the comment which got me wondering, because I've always
seen western kingbirds nesting at some height in big trees or
artificial structures in dry country, and not right down in the
marsh where I normally see easterns. And never eastern kingbirds
in the habitat the habitat I associated with westerns.

BTW, thinking about your comment and westerns nesting on the east
side of poles, the transformer-nester I was thinking of was
definitely on the eastern one (you'd think there'd be WEKI on
the west one, and EAKI on the east, no? :) ). Seriously, this
is the typical two-transformer older system of delivery, one on
the east and one on the west side of the pole, and they were
nesting on the east one. Though not in between the transformer
and the pole - perhaps this setup didn't have enough room or
something like that.

> BOBOs (it really is fun to use these acronyms) are scattered spottily
> across eastern Washington, mostly in the northern third from the Okanogan
> valley east, pretty much always in hay meadows. Also a good population at
> Toppenish in Yakima County.

Well, only some of the acronyms are fun. Coming from the computer
industry, I used to think of birding as a haven from acronyms...


- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>