Andy Stepniewski wrote:

>Re: Orange-crowned Warblers on the east slopes of the Cascades. I'm going to
>go out on a limb here...and check the map for OCWA after I post this. I
>consider the Orange-crowned Warbler a characteristic and common summer
>resident of brushy openings on the east slopes of the Cascades, Okanogan
>Highlands, and Selkirks. It is absent from most if not all of the Columbia
>Basin.

I'm fascinated that you say this, because, to the best of my recollection,
if have *never* seen or heard an Orange-crowned Warbler in the breeding
season in the areas I have spent the most time, namely the east slope of
the Cascades in Kittitas County and all over the Wenatchee Mountains. I've
been up and down all the canyons, from the lower edge of the trees to well
into the larch/lodgepole pine/Engelmann spruce zone, more times than I can
count. I've also done a lot of field work in Okanogan County in June. For
a decade or two I have been aware of the elusiveness or lack of
Orange-crowns in those areas, and I have looked and listened in vain to try
to find them. Are you saying you can go upslope from Yakima in June and
find Orange-crowns any time in appropriate habitat?

I had wondered if perhaps I didn't notice them because they stop singing
relatively early (as they do on the west side), making it a lot harder to
find them, but I've been over a lot of that country in late April and early
May, and I can't imagine that in almost 30 years of doing this, I missed a
species that was " a characteristic and common summer resident of brushy
openings on the east slopes of the Cascades"! Furthermore, as we stated
earlier, the east-side birds probably breed later than the west-side birds,
not much earlier than, say, Nashville, in their schedule. But, as migrants
for the most part don't sing, I haven't even had the problem of hearing
Orange-crown songs and wondering if they were residents or migrants.

I've never seen one with much effort and by methods (such as pygmy-owl
tooting or pishing) that result in abundant encounters with all the other
warblers of the area--MacGillivray's, Nashville, and Yellow in shrubby,
riparian, and/or deciduous habitats, and Yellow-rumped and Townsend's (and
a few Black-throated Gray) in higher, conifer-dominated habitats. I've
seen many, many Wilson's, too, but generally silent migrants in May.

I just looked back through my field cards to double check. Fortunately,
they support my memory, which is aging about like swiss cheese (especially
the holes). I have seen lots of Orange-crowns all along the east side
through about 20 May, then a lot fewer through the end of that month, then
none whatsoever thereafter, including a lot of time in Kittitas, Chelan,
and Okanogan counties (but in the Cascades, not to the east of the river).
My only June records were a couple of times in the NE corner (Stevens/Pend
Oreille counties) and once in Yakima County (one of Andy's birds!). I
wonder if the birds in Yakima County could be west-side _lutescens_ that
have come up the Columbia River, although I don't recall seeing/hearing any
in a few summer trips to Klickitat County, where they should be if this
were the case.

How does the habitat of your east-side Orange-crowns differ from that of
Nashville Warblers, Andy? At what elevations do you find them? I think
you are correct that they breed in the Okanogan Highlands and Selkirks,
although, even there, I haven't found Orange-crowns to be common. This
could be because I tend to visit there later in the season, even late June
and July, and maybe they have shut down by then. The specimen we have from
Ferry County was singing from a spruce tree at 4500' on 31 May.

Just a little more grist for the mill. It's the opportunity to have
discussions of this sort that makes tweeters of such value, in my opinion.

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