Hi Tweeters,
a little bit late a short note about the Bird Blitz last wekend in
Manning Park (just N of the border to the US in the Cascades). We got
barely 57 species alltogether on Sturday, as we got into rain, snow and
hail...first day of summer. in our area, we got at least good looks at a
Red Crossbill (always unpredictable) and Yellow-rumped, Townsend's and
Wilson's Warbler. I came to this "identification key":
- hiding in (high) conifers, singing also in there -> Townsend's
- in conifers, but allowing sometimes a glimpse of a rather large bird ->
Yellow-rumped
- in alder/willow shrubs, lower down -> Wilson's.
This would certainly not hold true on migration, but are these
observations common on breeding ground? And if so, where do the other
common warblers in our area (orange-crowned, MacGillivray, Yellow,
Blackthroated grey) fit into the picture? Pleeaase? :)

Other birds of interest were Red-naped Sapsucker, Three-toed and Hairy
Woodpecker right at the campground (Lone Duck).

And I still admire birders who don't need the additional clues like
habitat and previous records to identify birds by songs!

Reto Riesen
Dept. Chem., UBC
Vancouver, B.C.
riesenr at chem.ubc.ca