I took a short mid-day exploratory stroll on Friday (09Jan) in an area 'new'
to me up on the Sammamish Plateau, just up the slope from the Hal Jensen Youth
Camping area, Lake Sammamish State Park, near Issaquah. There amongst a
roving flock of chickadees, bushtits, kinglets, and a couple of Brown
Creepers, I observed a most accommodating Hutton's Vireo.

The Hutton's Vireo superficially resembles a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, except is
slightly more robust, with a heavier 'vireo' bill, distinct and diagnostic
broad pale lores and broken eye-ring, and much more sluggish habits. The
habitat here consisted of primarily Douglas Fir and cedar with a sprinkling of
deciduous trees (Red Alder and Broadleaf Maple?).

What exactly is the winter status of Hutton's Vireo around here, especially in
the eastern urban Seattle area? Supposedly and according to the literature I
currently have (Hunn, Whal & Paulson, Jewett et.al., and Campbell et.al.) it
is an uncommon 'permanent' resident in Western Washington and extreme SW BC.
However, I so seldom encounter one, and until yesterday, had seen this species
locally in King County only at Discovery Park, Seattle. Are they at all
migratory in the PacNW and any less common around these parts than in the
Spring/Summer, as if to suggest from my meager experience that they are even
any more common? For some reason, even when I'm in areas in coastal central
California where the species is fairly common, it's distinctive call is still
subtle enough that unless I'm really paying attention, I can miss it
altogether. I am seldom around here when the Hutton's Vireo is most likely
vocal so can't really include a fair analysis in my mental data base. Maybe
their distribution is just very local? Any sense of a decline (or increase)
in numbers from say 10, 20, or more years ago or is it about the same?

The Hutton's Vireo is so quiet and unobtrusive, it can be easily overlooked or
even carelessly passed over and off as a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Connecting the
Hutton's Vireo to the recent Tweeters discussion on wintering Townsend's
Warblers, I've probably had ten Townsend's encounters to every single Hutton's
around western Washington in the winter. Or, maybe I'm just overlooking them
too for as easy as this could seem to be while everyone else sees Hutton's all
the time and dismiss them as no big deal. The rather mundane non-descript
Hutton's Vireo isn't exactly the most eye-catching and talked-about Washington
bird species of all time and I don't think I've ever even seen this species
mentioned at all during the intermittant periods that I've been active on or
monitoring Tweeters.

In case this might be important, the exact location of the Hutton's Vireo was
0.3 miles east of East Lake Sammamish Parkway SE along SE 43 Way. There are
are two little gated driveways on the south side of SE 43 Way which access
land owned by either the County or the State (LSSP), one which leads a few
paces to a stinky sewage treatment facility, the other to an obvious gravel
road/trail which is actually an old railway bed and continues east for about a
mile or a little less where you eventually emerge into one of those
encroaching controversial expensive housing projects on the Sammamish Plateau.
The Hutton's Vireo was seen about 2/3 the way to the housing project (walking
maybe a half-mile). If anyone goes there, the driveway parking spots are on a
kind of 'blind' curve on busy SE 43 Way, so be especially careful when leaving
and pulling back on the road.

Hugh Jennings; are there any (or many) records of Hutton's Vireo recorded on
ELWAS CBC's?

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)
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Tweeters isn't just an adventure; it's a job! :-))
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