Tweeters,

For a regional perspective, Black-capped Chickadees are absent not
only from the San Juan Islands, but also from the adjacent Gulf
Islands and Vancouver Island in British Columbia. They are also very
rare on the mainland coast north of the Vancouver area, normally
occurring only where large rivers with cottonwood stands empty into
the sea (e.g. the Squamish, Dean, and Skeena Rivers).

Although there have been several reported sightings of Black-capped
Chickadees on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, all of them had
inadequate details, and were correctly (in my opinion) excluded by
Campbell et al. in "The Birds of British Columbia", Vol. 3 (1997). I
trust that at least some of the San Juan County sightings are
documented by descriptions and/or photos, and that observers will
provide documentation for any future sightings there.

Unlike the northeastern U.S., where some Black-capped Chickadees seem
to migrate, there is little or no evidence of migration in our area,
and they seem to have a strong aversion to crossing salt water. A bone
fide Black-cap on the San Juans or Gulf Islands is truly a red-letter
bird.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops and Delta, BC
contopus at shaw.ca





----- Original Message -----
From: Scott Atkinson <scottratkinson at hotmail.com>
To: <ipaulsen at krl.org>; <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 4:02 PM
Subject: Re: Black-capped Chickadees on the San Juan Islands


Only rarely. The Sharpe & Lewis book on birding there includes the
records
to the time of publishing, since then there have been a couple more
reports.
If memory serves Orcas and Lopez together have had the most reports
(my
sole San Juan Co record was form Lopez many years ago).

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com


> >From: ian paulsen <ipaulsen at krl.org>
> >Reply-To: ipaulsen at krl.org
> >To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> >Subject: Black-capped Chickadees on the San Juan Islands
> >Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 14:11:32 -0700 (PDT)
> >
> >HI:
> > How often do people see black-capped chickadees on the San Juan
Islands??
> >
> >Ian Paulsen
> >Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
> >ipaulsen at krl.org
> >A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
> >"Rallidae all the way"
> >