Bill and Nancy,

Thanks very much for posting the list of spring arrival dates for the
Tri-Cities and vicinity. A number of birders, myself included, are
fascinated by the patterns of migratory arrivals and departures for
various species. Like you, I've compiled a table of spring arrival
dates (and fall departure dates) for the Vancouver, BC area, that goes
back to 1968. For many species, we have spring arrival dates for 28
years or more since 1968.

On May 2nd, I spent all day birding in Benton County (mainly W.E.
Johnson Park, the Yakima Delta, and the Rattlesnake Hills north of
Prosser), and I can add a couple of species to your 2004 arrival
dates.

SOLITARY SANDPIPER-- One seen on the banks of the Yakima River
in WE Johnson Park; eventually flew off, calling repeatedly, up the
river.
(I don't see this species on your list-- do you not have many
records?)

CASSIN'S VIREO-- One, possibly 2 heard singing in WE Johnson Park,
Richland.

WESTERN TANAGER-- Just as I was checking out of the Motel 6 in
Kennewick, a male Western Tanager flew into a tree in the parking lot
and began singing loudly. This ties your 2004 arrival date.

Besides the Cassin's Vireo, W.E. Johnson Park had a small number of
other landbird migrants (or late-departing wintering birds?), which
included a WARBLING VIREO, 2 WILSON'S WARBLERS, a RUBY-
CROWNED KINGLET, an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, and
about 12 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS (2 small flocks.)

Thanks very much for posting the migration dates, and I hope the small
amount of additional data is helpful.

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


----- Original Message -----
From: Bill and Nancy LaFramboise <wlafra at owt.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; <inland-nw-birders at uidaho.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 9:21 PM
Subject: Early arrival dates


Tweeters and Inlanders,

We've been interested in the postings about early arrival dates. We
have compiled a long list of migrants with 2004 arrival dates for the
Tri-Cities area and compared them to early arrival dates in our
database.
The comparison is interesting.

The historic early arrival dates were taken in part from our database
which includes sightings of many area observers. Data in the database
came from our sightings, monthly reports used for local Audubon
newsletter, the local alert, and from American/ North American Birds.
Historic dates also came from the Annotated List of the Birds of the
Tri-Cities compiled from over 30 years of records mostly from Bob
Woodley and Elisabeth Moore.

< snip >

Bill & Nancy LaFramboise
wlafra at owt.com
Richland, WA