Cardinals have significantly expanded their ranfw

Ray Korpi, PhD
rkorpi at clark.edu
Portland, OR/Clark College, Vancouver WA
President, Oregon Field Ornithologists


-----Original Message-----
From: MBlanchrd at aol.com [mailto:MBlanchrd at aol.com]
Sent: Friday, September 24, 1999 5:20 PM
To: TWEETERS at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Cardinals at Gig Harbor??


In a message dated 09/24/1999 4:56:19 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
avisys at mindspring.com writes:

<< (I'll assume this is an unusual
occurrence. ? )
>>

OH I hope it's true, and I hope it's the beginning of their becoming
established here!

Cardinals began moving north and west from the southeast early this century.

They've been steadily expanding their range. My mother who still lives in
Michigan, said that, as a girl, she'd never ever seen one, and only began to

see them in the early thirties. (my mother, as you may guess, is in her
70's.

My in laws, both of whom live in where in the hell am I Minnesota, say that
they didn't see cardinals until the late forties.

Last year someone published a photograph of a male Cardinal in a bird feeder

in Ft. Collins, CO.
And Peterson says that Cardinals were introduced into S. California.

So all in all, I'm willing to bet that the purported cardinal in Gig Harbor
is a wild one, not an escapee. (especially as it's illegal to keep
indigenous
birds in captivity.)

I hope so, because I think the Cardinal is the King of the Birds.
Michelle
Littlerock, WA
MBlanchrd at aol.com