On Mon, 21 Oct 1996, Kelly McAllister arranged the electrons to say:

> I am hoping for some enlightenment on the what, when, and where of Lincoln's
> Sparrows in western Washington. The field guide write-ups tell me a little
> but I would like a little more detail. What habitat are they most often
> found in? What locations are good for seeing the species? What months find
> them in Washington?


Hi Kelly,

Here's a data point that may be of interest:

December 31, 1995 Everett Christmas Bird Count

Lincoln's Sparrow 57

I think that may be an all time high for a Washington Christmas
count, although I haven't gone through to check. In the peculiar way that
one-day high counts do, that record may help shed some light on bigger
questions about Lincoln's Sparrow abundance and distribution. For
example, you can compare its abundance (same day, same place) to a more
familiar species:

Song Sparrow 958

Or one Lincoln's for every 17 Song Sparrows. It's a particularly useful
comparison since Lincoln's are found in the same places as Song Sparrows
on our count.

Three factors that led to the high count of Lincoln's sparrows
were:
1) Lots of brushy weedy open habitat in the count circle (Spencer and
Ebey Islands together produced probably 600 of those song sparrows, and a
proportionate number of Lincoln's; the undergrowth in wooded areas in
Western Washington supports Song Sparrows but no LISPs in winter),
2) a mild fall and early winter leading up to the count, and
3) vigorous searching by dedicated birders with strong pishing
muscles (thank you Russell Rogers, Steve Mlodinow et al!). As others have
pointed out, LISPs are lurkers, and tend to get overlooked.

While I don't have numbers, LISPs seem much more common (and
more widespread) as a fall migrant than as a wintering bird. But for what
it's worth, there's a snapshot of the LISP situation in winter.

Chris Hill
Everett, WA
cehill at u.washington.edu