Very interesting way of looking at it. Let's try more areas for
"perspective". Dawson and Bowles, Birds of Washington (1909) is an
excellent source for historical bird populations, and great reading if you
like the old-timey style.


Tom Schooley, Olympia WA , dunlin at mail.tss.net



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From: G.Spitler/L.Cannon <gspitler at awinc.com>
To: 'tweeters' <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Historical Birding Day
Date: Monday, August 18, 1997 4:17 PM

On Sunday, a trio of birders from Johnsons Landing ,BC joined a trio of
birders from Nelson, BC for a day of historical birding. From an article by
Samuel N. Rhoads in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia, 1893, we were able to piece together a list of birds either
collected or seen in Nelson in the summer of 1892. One member of the group
was also able to research what the town of Nelson was like in 1892. Rhoads
visited Nelson from Aug 16th to the 23rd. Unfortunately, the entire group
of today's birders had only one full morning. We decided to try to get a
reasonable sample of the Nelson bird habitats rather than hunting for the
species seen by Rhoads.

The Rhoads' list contained 36 species. Unbelievably, we also recorded 36
species for our day. Only 11 species appear on both lists. The highlight of
the day was a Stilt Sandpiper which we all labored to identify. Being
inland types, shorebirds weren't anyone's forte.

Our list, with the Rhoads' species designated with[R], included:
Canada Goose
Mallard
Common Merganser
Osprey
Killdeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
STILT SANDPIPER
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Dove
Vaux's Swift
Rufous Hummingbird[R]
Belted Kingfisher
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow[R]
American Crow[R]
Steller's Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Veery
Swainson's Thrush[R]
American Robin[R]
Gray Catbird[R]
Cedar Waxwing[R]
European Starling
Red-eyed Vireo[R]
Yellow Warbler[R]
Common Yellowthroat
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco[R]
Pine Siskin[R]
House Finch
House Sparrow

Gail Spitler
Johnsons Landing, BC
gspitler at awinc.com
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