On Sunday, July 13, my wife and I birded up over the Monte Carlo
Mountain Range on the Skamania/Klickitat County border. Our purpose was
to relocate the FOX SPARROWS that I had noted there in 1998 to reconfirm
my opinion of their subspecies. We found them in Skamania County, in
young Douglas Firs about fifteen feet tall with a thick ceanothus
dominated understory along the 6610 Rd about a quarter of a mile east of
the intersection with the 8631 Rd.
We were able to put a spotting scope on a couple of birds and
could see that the lower mandible was pinkish-gray. The birds' underparts
were very lightly marked with small spots, the head was marked with gray,
and the tail was reddish. We did hear the birds calling and after
checking on both Mike Patterson's, Greg Gillson's, Alan Contreras, and
Steve Dowlan's excellent Web sites on Fox Sparrow identification we are
fairly certain that these are "Thick-billed" Fox Sparrows. This form is
known to be immediately south of this area on the slopes of Mt. Hood in
Oregon.
The Fox Sparrow I.D. pages can all be accessed through:
www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/sparrow.html

Wilson Cady
N45 35.618' W122 13.738'
Washougal, WA
gorgebirds at juno.com