>Michael,
>
>Great trip. I had a singing Wilson's Warbler once in late June, I
>believe, probably mid 1970s at Tucannon campground along the Tucannon
>River. It was on a very damp shaded slope just behind our campsite. Also
>had a Flammulated Owl and Poorwills at that spot and White-headed
>Woodpecker nearby. Too earlier for the atlas database, however. By the
>way, I presume the White-crowned Sparrows showed the pale lores and other
>morphological features of _oriantha_. How obvious to the eye were they?
>
>Gene.

To me, we've stayed in the Stone Age with regard to our knowledge of the
distribution of some Washington breeding birds. Wilson's and
Orange-crowned Warblers have often been thought of as being widespread
breeders east of the Cascades crest, but in fact, they're not! I think
they are both very local, unlike their status west of the crest, and it
would be interesting to try to put together a good account of their
distribution and habitat preference. I haven't checked the web for range
maps for either one; maybe there are answers there.

And Gene, didn't you mean the "dark lores" of _oriantha_? That's how you
would distinguish them from westside _pugetensis_ and migrant _gambelii-.
There's a definitive article on WCSP subspecies in Birding June1995.

I'll sure agree with you that it sounds as if they had a great trip! Much
envy on my part.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416