Dear Tweeters,

In view of Michael Dossett's report of Chipping Sparrows at
Shoreview, I thought it would be worthwhile to mention that there are
Chipping Sparrows on territory, and apparently trying to breed, at
Pitt Meadows, just east of Vancouver, B.C. (fide Larry Cowan and Brian
Self). If there is a successful breeding there, this would be the
first in several years near Vancouver. They are now quite rare even as
spring and fall migrants at Vancouver. Is their status the same around
Seattle?
In the late 1960s, Chipping Sparrows were a fairly common breeder
around Vancouver, especially in parks and residential areas with a
combination of Douglas-firs for nesting and for song perches, and
lawns or short grass for foraging. They have almost disappeared
in the intervening 30 years. Most people attribute this to Cowbird
nest parasitism. Cowbirds were rare in the Puget Sound/Georgia Strait
area until the 1960s, but have increased dramatically since then.
Chipping Sparrows are one of the Cowbird's favorite hosts wherever the
two species occur together, and in this case, it looks like Cowbirds
have virtually wiped out the local Chipping Sparrow population. If the
sparrows are starting to make a bit of a comeback, that's good news.
East of the Cascades, however, where Chipping Sparrows were always
far more abundant than on the west side, I can detect no long-term
decrease of Chipping Sparrows.

Comments, anyone?

Wayne Weber
Kamloops, B.C.
wayne_weber at bc.sympatico.ca


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Dossett <phainopepla at yahoo.com>
To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, July 07, 1999 7:22 AM
Subject: Shoreview Chipping Sparrows...


>Hi Tweets,
>
>I just wanted to let you all know the latest on the Shoreview
Chipping
>Sparrows. There are at least two (maybe three) singing males on
>territories. At least one of which has attracted a mate (I saw them
>copulating on the fence near the entrance yesterday morning).
>
>Michael Dossett
>Bothell
>Phainopela at yhaoo.com
>
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