Subject: Re: Eastern WA warblers (OC and Wilson's)
Date: Jun 20 13:32:23 1996
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at mirrors.ups.edu


>without repeating the previous messages--
>
>another factor that may be confusing the issue is migration timing, as
>we've seen quite well this year. The eastern mountains are possibly two or
>three months behind the western lowlands. While birds on the westside have
>been on territory for weeks, the birds on the eastside are still moving
>through. The danger is to think that the two should be similar.
>
>We can find Orange-crowned Warblers in the lower elevations around
>Wenatchee in early June. I always assumed that they nested here, partly on
>the belief that most Orange-crowned Warblers would be on their breeding
>grounds by early June.
>
>The two races should also be distinctive enough to separate in the field.
>Have to think about them.
>
>--Jerry Tangren

One thing I didn't write, unfamiliar to those of you who don't have all the
old literature, is that the "eastern" Orange-crowned Warbler _Vermivora
celata celata_ breeds all the way west to interior Alaska and is found in
Washington in migration; I've seen them several times in my yard, and we
have specimens from the Puget Sound area. I'll bet these are the migrants
that linger on into the late spring, as Alaska birds, of course, aren't
breeding until considerably later than our western lowland ones. This
subspecies is very dull greenish, with gray around the neck, very different
from the bright yellowish _lutescens_ and fairly yellowish _orestera_. The
NGS field guide illustrates both types, and they are at least as
different-looking in the field as they are on the plate.

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