Michael Price spoke of Chestnut-backed Chickadees as winter birds in
his yard. Burt Guttman noted the year-round presence of them in his
area. Several of our western Washington birds are like this, with
locally variable seasonal distribution. I think of juncos as winter
birds in my yard, since they show up at the feeders in October and
leave sometime in April. No juncos in June. But if I could spit a
quarter mile, I could hit breeding juncos in the nearby clearcuts, all
summer long. And a junco pair nests outside my office in beautiful
downtown Lacey every year. Same altitude and latitude; the birds just
vacate the woods in the spring and head for the open spaces
(clearcuts, parking lots) to nest. Or do they? Do our nesting juncos
spend the winter at feeders in California? Where do our winter birds
come from? I see "Slate-colored" birds in with the "Oregon" birds
each winter, and I know they're not breeding in the clearcuts.

And how about Golden-crowned Kinglets? I only see them in the winter
in the yard, but you don't need to gain much elevation to find them
singing in the summer.

Oh, by the way, our chickadees are year-round birds. They make the
effort to fly from the birdhouse to the feeder and back, maybe to the
pond for a drink, and that's about it...

Eric Kraig
Olympia
kraig at wln.com