Charlie, Tweeters, and Inland Birders,

Thanks for your very detailed report on birding in the Horseshoe Basin
and adjacent areas of northern Okanogan County. I've done a lot of a
birding in this part of Washington, especially during the Breeding
Bird Atlas project from 1988 through 1994, but I've never had the
opportunity to backpack into the high country.

I have a couple of comments on your report:

(1) The BREWER'S SPARROW that you reported at the base of Armstrong
Mountain was most likely a somewhat displaced individual of the
"sagebrush" subspecies (breweri). The nearest known breeding
localities for the "Timberline" subspecies (taverneri) are hundreds of
miles away in southeastern BC, northwestern Montana, and the Rocky
Mountains of Alberta. On the other hand, the "sagebrush" subspecies
apparently breeds up to the summit of Mount Kobau at more than 6000
feet altitude on the opposite side of the Similkameen River in BC,
only a few miles away.

(2) The SPOTTED SANDPIPER incubating eggs was, in all likelihood, a
male. The vast majority of incubation and care of young in this
species is carried out by males, and the sexes cannot be distinguished
by plumage.

Please keep those reports coming, Charlie. The SPRUCE GROUSE and
BOREAL OWL would be "state birds" for me!

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net



----- Original Message -----
From: Charlie Wright <charlie at birdwright.com>
To: <inland-nw-birders at uidaho.edu>; Tweeters
<tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2003 2:19 PM
Subject: eastern Pasayten Wilderness 7/7-10 (and more)


> Hey Tweeters,
>
< snip >