Hello tweeters,

I will add my comments on the movements of local Song Sparrows. Over all I
agree with Chris Hill's comments. I think that nearly all of our local
Song Sparrows are just that - local. There is certainly some local
dispering of Song Sparrows (SOSP) but to what extent that takes place is
not real clear.

At my banding site at McChord, I banded around 50 SOSP at my winter
banding site which was near a wetland. I color-banded these bird expecting
that some would move into nearby areas for breeding, areas where I was
going to closely monitor the breeding populations of several species of
passerines. These areas were less than 100 meters from my winter banding
site. When spring came and birds started nesting activities, I was very
suprised that I saw none of the SOSP that I color-banded in my study
sites! This was also true for Spotted Towhee. A few of the SOSP stayed at
the wetland to breed, most however, went somewhere else. I concluded, that
they chose other habitat types over the one that I was studying (shruby
grasslands and oakwoodlands. The other habitat nearby was large
Douglas-fir with a dense shrubby understory. I would be will to bet my
banding pliers that is where the SOSP ended up, but I don't know for sure.

Russell Rogers

Olympia WA