Greetings,

I've been following the discussion on HETOs, and would like to throw
another combination into the pot. Hermit Warblers and associated hybrids
are virtually non-existent in our area. Instead we have the following
problem to deal with.

Over the past few years, while censusing forest songbirds on eastern
Vancouver Island, I've been having difficulty separating the songs of
Black-throated Gray and Townsend's Warblers. In my study area near Duncan,
both species are occurring together in 60-80 year old stands of
Douglas-fir, and their songs are often indistinguishable. Some of the
Townsend's have the nice clear ending as they are supposed to, but most of
the Black-throated Grays have very unbuzzy songs. I rarely hear the buzzy
song so typical of mainland Black-throated Grays.

I have a strong suspicion that a substantial proportion of the birds may be
hybrids. We are now catching hybrids annually at the Rocky Point
Migration Monitoring Station at the southern tip of Vancouver Island. A
few are distinctly intermediates, while most are Black-throated Grays with
a few Townsend's characteristics such as greenish backs or yellow flecks on
the breast.

Is anyone else seeing or catching these types of hybrids?

Michael G. Shepard
Director
VGI Vision Foundation
5325 Cordova Bay Road, Suite 211
Victoria, BC V8Y 2L3
(250) 658-4844 telephone
(250) 658-0084 fax
mgs at orcatec.com
http://www.visionfoundation.org