Steppie wrote:

<<snip>>
>My question is whether BC birders are noting Bohemian Waxwings at valley
>bottom elevations in the 3rd & 4th weeks of October, or, are these
>vanguards mostly migrating south along the mountaintops, only to descend to
>lower elevations in November and December?

Well, the Bohemians (they really live up to their name) arrived here in P.G.
a couple of weeks ago. And they are *always* here by the 3rd week of October
so they were a bit early this year but not overly so. A good crop of berries
on the Mountain Ashes so they will be around until they strip them all off.

However, that does not negate your question as to whether they may migrate
along the mountains and only descend into the valleys to feed. I think that
this is a plausible theory for many of our species, not just waxwings. For
example, Gray-cheeked Thrushes nest in BC north of 55N latitude and west of
the Rockies. Until someone stumbled into one at sub-alpine level a few weeks
ago in the mountains east of P.G. here, the accepted wisdom was that they
all headed east over the Rockies first before heading south. Well, this may
not be the case - they could be following the alpine meadows south instead
for a while before heading across the Rockies. I think the establishment of
some higher elevation banding sites would be a great idea.


---------------------------
Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca