Hi Tweets,

I saw 5 Nashville Warblers less than a fourth of a mile up the Cedar
Creek trail 18 miles west of Winthrop on Saturday. Although this spot is
only about 3,500 feet, I was still somewhat surprised because it did not
seem like the type of habitat they might prefer. There were several
Ponderosa pines as well as other types (Lodgepole? I don't know many
conifers yet) There were also Doug Firs, Western Cedars, and some Hemlock
(definately not the brushy hillsides Andy S. was talking about). This
surprised me and kind of took me off guard because I always thought of
Nashville Warblers being more typical of the western slopes of the North
Cascades (such as between Newhalem and Diablo lake), rather than the
eastern. The Checklist for Birds of the North Cascades National Park,
including the Ross Lake National Recreation Area and the Lake Chelan
National Recreation area lists Nashville Warblers as being "Uncommon.
Widespread in very small numbers or common only within restricted
habitat" So do Nashville Warblers show a preference for which slope
based on habitat?

Andy S. wrote -
> it occurs to me these Mt. Adams Nashvilles are more akin
> to their eastern cousins in terms of habitat choice as opposed to the
> brushy hillside birds that most western Nashvilles seem to choose.
Maybe
> these birds beg for DNA analysis. There is some talk of splitting these
two
> subspecies.

Perhaps the birds which are "more akin to their eastern cousins in terms
of habitat choice" prefer one side of the mountains and actually are more
closely related to the eastern subspecies "ruficapilla," and birds of the
western subspecies "ridgwayi" prefer the other side. It could be bigger
than just habitat, it could be elevation or side of the mountains (which
ultimately dictates habitat). In other words, I think Andy could be on
to something.


Michael Dossett
Shoreline, Washington
mpdossett at juno.com

_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]