Hmmm. I regularly have heard and seen Black-capped Chickadees here. By
regularly I would say that they seem to be in a certain part of the
island at a certain time of the year from year to year. They are by no
means common. Didn't really appreciate the rarity of the circumstance.
Will let you know when they show again. Thanks for the word.

Cheers, P.

Paul Moorehead
Guemes, WA

"Wayne C. Weber" wrote:
>
> 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"
> > >