Tweeters and Kelly McAllister,

I realized that others would be interested in some of this discussion Scott
Atkinson and I have been having off the list below about this magnificent
bird that has rarely been seen in Washington since it was last recorded
nesting here - (apparantly in the 1930's ?).

It is amazing to think that one or two were caught by the Peregrines nesting
on the WA Mutual tower (Seattle). Then I realized there is a small amount
of good habitat along the Duwamish on and west of Kellogg Island where the
Peregrines hunt. Orioles, that like similar habitat, also occur there. A
Cuckoo would be easy to pick off, and they don't travel in flocks that do
evasive scramble maneuvers like starlings, shorebirds and pigeons. I'm not
sure they could maneuver fast enough if they did.

Kelly, when were those cuckoo(s) recorded as Peregrine dinner (or lunch) at
WA Mutual?

Maybe Seattle Parks and the Port of Seattle should get rid of the lawn they
put in "Herring House Park" (terminal 107) there and let it turn into a
cottonwood/willow/ash/cascara/alder/black Hawthorn/Pacific Crabapple
riparian woodland.

Stewart Wechsler
West Seattle
mailto:ecostewart at quidnunc.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Stewart Wechsler [mailto:ecostewart at quidnunc.net]
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 9:57 AM
To: Scott Atkinson
Subject: RE: Prairie/Garry Oak habitat (prairie birds and bluebird
territory size) question


It would seem that part of the reason for their riparian habits when they
occurred (albeit sparsely I presume) in W WA may be that most of the
braodleaf woodlands were riparian, elsewhere in the (more arid) west most of
the woodlands are riparian.

Stewart

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Atkinson [mailto:scottratkinson at hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 9:40 AM
To: ecostewart at quidnunc.net
Subject: RE: Prairie/Garry Oak habitat (prairie birds and bluebird
territory size) question


Stewart:

I to recall YB Cuckoos being a lot less specific to riparian in my six years
back in MD-VA, being found in several types of deciduous forest. Here I
think they were always specific to riparian (if I recall Jewett right); very
few modern records have been registered in wWA (the last I recall on this
side of the mts was a late July bird in the cottonwood growth along the
river at Sultan, there was also a July report from Mtlk Terrace a couple
years back, in a suburb). I'm not sure that historically cuckoos ever
occurred along the Queets, but if they did I would have expected them not in
the conifers, but willows/cottonwoods along the water's edge. I think
historically for wWA cuckoos were birds of the mainland river systems; I'd
have to check, but I believe either Jewett's Birds of WA of else John Hooper
Bowles earlier work would cite those, including historic occurrence along
the Nisqually.

Best


Scott




>From: "Stewart Wechsler" <ecostewart at quidnunc.net>
>To: "Scott Atkinson" <scottratkinson at hotmail.com>
>Subject: RE: Prairie/Garry Oak habitat (prairie birds and bluebird
>territory size) question
>Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 09:08:42 -0800
>
>Thank you Scott,
>
>I associate the YB Cuckoo with the Oak Woodlands I grew up with on Long
>Island, New York, but most woodlands there were dominated by oak. I
>remember being particularly impressed with the first one I saw over 30
>years
>ago. If not oak, I then picture them in deciduous forest, which in western
>WA would have been oak or riparian (salicaceae/alder/fraxinus), but once
>again there were no more than a scattering of Eastern White Pines in the
>areas I birded in in the East and in which I remember an occasional
>sighting
>of a Yellow-billed. Now that I think of it, I can think of 2 riparian
>areas
>that I saw them in. If cuckoos were
>known to have nested along the Nissaqually, I'd be especially interested.
>From my limited images of Cuckoos in habitat, I can't easilly picture them
>in the coniferous forests lining the Qweets for example.
>
>Thanks again for the input.
>
>Stewart Wechsler
>West Seattle
>mailto:ecostewart at quidnunc.net
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Scott Atkinson [mailto:scottratkinson at hotmail.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 7:52 AM
>To: ecostewart at quidnunc.net
>Subject: RE: Prairie/Garry Oak habitat (prairie birds and bluebird
>territory size) question
>
>
>Stewart:
>
>The cuckoos were, unlike the others, associated with riparian habitats,
>mostly of the major mainland river systems.
>
>Scott

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