On 7 Mar 2002, Mike Patterson wrote:

> According to Gabrielson and Jewett (1940) there are to subspecies that
> occur in the Pacific Northwest. "Northwestern" Robin (Turdus
> migratorius caurinus) and "Western" Robin (T.m.propinquus).
>
> Pyle also notes "aleucus" which he calls a clinal variant of
> propinquus which is smaller, browner and has less white in
> the tail than Rocky Mountain forms.

Jewett et al. (Birds of Washington, 1953) also cite T.m. caurinus and
T.m. propinquus as the two Washington subspecies, but map caurinus as
having a westside and northern Washington range, with propinquus
limited to the eastside.

Gabrielson & Jewett's (Birds of Oregon, 1940) range descriptions of
caurinus and propinquus are less than clear; depending on whether one
places emphasis on their "general" or "Oregon" distribution
descriptions, both subspecies can be make to occur on both sides of
the Cascades -- or not.

Campbell et al. (Birds of British Columbia, Vol 3, 1997) indicate
caurinus as a coastal subspecies, associate propinquus with the
southern BC interior, with T.m. migratorius occurring in the northern
BC interior.

That said, there is always the adage that "birds have wings -- they
go where they please irrespective of range maps."


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Douglas Canning
Olympia, Washington
dcanning at nisquallyestuary.org
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