I apologize to Michelle and the group for the last incomplete message--blame
it on Monday morning.

Now to finish it--cardinals have spread across the Great Plains in the last
10-15 years. There are now a few resident Cardinals in Scottsbluff/Gering,
Nebraska where they were accidental a few years ago. The Fort Collins
birds may be more range expansion of the same type (up the same river
system). Yet the range does not extend past this, there are no Oregon
records, and no viable Washington records. There was a bird reported from
Lewiston/Clarkston several years ago; I am unsure of the determination of
its wildness, but I would suspect a caged bird. While people are not
supposed to cage cardinals, it happens, and the Cardinal in Gig Harbor will
probably be a conundrum.
RK

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