Tweeters (and Michael)

Last week (early January) I mentioned the following about Song Sparrows
in Sequim:
>> I can add that the Song Sparrows have been
>>singing with surprising vigor in the morning during the last week in
>>Sequim.

To which Michael commented:
>Considering that many of the birds we're hearing in the region at this time
>of year are very likely northern migrants supplanting spring and summer
>residents which winter further south, I suspect these birds' songs and
>behavior have little to do with breeding--which would require them to be on
>or heading to breeding territory, which won't happen for at least another
>three or four months--and much to do with establishing and maintaining
>positions of status within the winter-flock hierarchy in the case of the
>blackbirds and proclaiming winter feeding territory in the sparrow's
>instance. Why evolve a new set of songs and behavior for use on the
>wintering grounds when the set they use for breeding work just as well for
>the different purposes?

Out of curiousity, I checked with Gene Kridler, who has banded birds for
several years on the north Olympic Peninsula. He said he has recaptured
the same individual Song Sparrows throughout the year at their apparent
breeding sites, suggesting that at least some Song Sparrows are resident
here. And despite banding many Song Sparrows, he has not had any
recoveries outside the area. He has had recoveries elsewhere of other,
obviously migratory species, such as Zonotrichia.

There certainly are migrant Song Sparrows that increase "winter"
populations here, but are you sure that Song Sparrows at this latitude
are all migrants? I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that many Song
Sparrows here remain on territory throughout the year, such as occurs
farther south in Oregon and California. There, studies of Song Sparrows
banded as chicks have shown that some travel no more than 1/4 mile from
their natal nest their entire lives. Do you have, or know of, any
information on the proportion of resident to migrant Song Sparrows in
coastal B.C. and Washington in winter?

Are there any other local banders (like Jon Anderson?) or anyone else who
can answer this question -- are Song Sparrows in lowland western
Washington typically resident all year, or do most if not all migrate and
are consequently replaced by other migrant populations in winter? If
some Song Sparrows are resident, then it seems that winter singing may
help establish breeding territories, if prime breeding locations are at a
premium. If all migrate, then winter singing would help establish
feeding territories unrelated to breeding, as Michael says.

Bob Boekelheide
Sequim