Despite their rarity on the San Juans and Vancouver Islands, Black-capped
Chickadees do range quite far north in the west, resident as far north as
forested areas of the Seward Peninsula in Alaska (see Brina Kessel's Birds
of the Seward Peninsula). I was pleasantly surprised to see a pair in June
about 50 miles west of Nome, working through the willows.

Bob Sundstrom

ixoreus at scattercreek.com
Tenino, WA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eugene Hunn" <enhunn at attbi.com>
To: "TWEETERS" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 9:30 PM
Subject: re. black-capped & chestnut-backed chickadees on islands here


> I've long speculated that the reason that black-caps are so rare on the
> islands here is that they have arrived from back east relatively recently
> and have not yet succeeded in colonizing the islands. The fact that all
> black-caps from coast to coast are considered a single sub-species (I
> believe they are monotypic) supports such a contention. They have also not
> yet colonized as far south in California as have the chestnut-backeds.
Also
> they are adapted to more frequently disturbed habitats, e.g., riparian
> woodland.
>
> Gene Hunn
> enhunn at attbi.com.