Kelly and Tweeters,

White-breasted Nuthatches are not considered to be migratory in the
Northwest, except perhaps for a small altitudinal movement. However,
there are well-established patterns of long-distance vagrancy. (The
same could be said for N. Mockingbird, another non-migratory species.)

White-breasted Nuthatches have never been known to breed in
southwestern BC, west of the Cascades and Coast Range. However, there
are numerous records (mainly in fall and winter) of White-breasted
Nuthatches, both on Vancouver I. and the southern mainland-- hundreds
of km from the nearest known nesting locations for the species.

Some of the coastal BC localities for WBNU listed in The Birds of BC,
Volume 3 (R.W. Campbell et al. 1997) include Vancouver, West
Vancouver, Bowen Island, North Vancouver, Surrey, Sumas, Chilliwack,
Victoria, Metchosin, Sooke, Pender Islands, Saanich, Comox, Sayward,
and even Bella Coola.

I have a September record from Point Roberts in Whatcom Co., and can
dig up the date if anyone is interested. Whatcom County has at least 8
lowland records for the species (Birds of Whatcom County, T.R. Wahl,
1995).

The two subspecies which are possible are the "Slender-billed"
Nuthatch (Sitta carolinenesis aculeata), which breeds from the Puget
Sound region (formerly) and Clark County south into California (west
of the Cascades), and the "Inyo" nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis
tenuissima), which breeds east of the Cascades from south-central BC
southward.

The rub is that none of the coastal WBNU records from BC, to my
knowledge, has ever been assigned positively to either subspecies. All
of them are sight records or photos, and the two subspecies are very
hard to separate in the field, if in fact it can be done. However, I
suspect that most, if not all, of the coastal BC records are
tenuissima. Steve Mlodinow is quite correct when he states that we
should not assume that any WBNUs seen in the Puget Sound area are
"slender-billed" (i.e., aculeatus).

By the way, the (obsolete) English names for the subspecies are
misleading. Tenuissima, in fact, has a noticeably more slender bill
than aculeatus, the "Slender-billed" Nuthatch. So much for English
names!

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




----- Original Message -----
From: Kelly Mcallister <mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov>
To: Ed Swan <edswan at centurytel.net>
Cc: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 6:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Vashon adds another bird: WB Nuthatch


> The Slender-billed White-breasted Nuthatch (I'm sure their slenders
bills are quite noticeable) is a subspecies of
> intense interest lately. Since the subspecies has been lost from the
breeding fauna of the Puget lowlands, there's
> lots of interest in figuring out how to get it back. Of course, it
doesn't hurt that prairie and oak woodlands are
> currently the main focus of conservation in the Puget lowlands, with
many agencies and The Nature Conservancy
> working on restoration and species recovery.
>
> All of this blather is by way of introduction to my biological
questions. Why are White-breasted Nuthatches turning up
> on the Olympic Peninsula and Vashon Island? They're not regarded as
migratory. To what extent do they disperse long
> distances? If habitat were suitable at, say, Scatter Creek Wildlife
Area, is it possible that the nuthatches would find
> it and colonize it?
>
> Right now, the prevailing attitudes are that Slender-billed
White-breasted Nuthatches will not colonize suitable habitat,
> once it is created. They will need to be translocated from distant
places, like the Columbia River. These sightings of
> nuthatches in western Washington make me wonder, though. It's really
important that sightings of this species in western
> Washington be evaluated carefully. If they are solid, credible
observations, they have meaning and value to the ongoing
> efforts to restore the species, in my opinion.
>
> Kelly McAllister
> Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
> Olympia, Washington
> Reply to: mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov
>