Subject: [Tweeters] White-crowned Sparrow races
Date: Mar 15 17:07:35 2005
From: Eugene and Nancy Hunn - enhunn323 at comcast.net


Tweets,

It's also worth noting that just west of Naches Pass in sw King County
pugetensis and gambelii share an early second growth margin to a wet meadow
in summer. Dave Beaudette determined a few years ago that both nested and
that they mated assortatively. I've recorded both songs there subsequently.

I believe the AOU ought to seriously consider splitting the White-crowned
Sparrow if such sympatry can be demonstrated more widely. Pugetensis has
greatly expanded its breeding range in recent years up and over the Cascade
crest, while gambelii remains a rare Cascade crest breeder.

Gene Hunn
18476 47th Pl. NE
Lake Forest Park
enhunn323 at comcast.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jessie Barry" <jhbirds384 at hotmail.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 11:29 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] White-crowned Sparrow races


> Message from Cameron Cox:
>
> Tweeters,
>
> In the absence of Steve Mlodinow, who is sunning himself in Aruba under
> the auspices of a medical conference, I will try to address the
> White-crowned Sparrow issue.
>>From my experience in the Puget Sound area (mainly King, Snohomish, and
> Skagit counties), over the past two winters, pugetensis has a clear
> advantage over gambellii. Some days it seems that pugetensis completely
> dominants while the reverse is seldom true. Other days it's more of a
> 50-50 split, sometimes in the exact areas where nothing but pugetensis was
> present a few days before. It is also not uncommon to find a flock
> consisting mainly of pugetensis, drive down the road and find a flock were
> gambellii dominates, while other flocks are completely mixed. Overall in
> this region, I would say that it's somewhere between 70-30% to 60-40% in
> favor of pugetensis with gambellii perhaps being a little more prevalent
> farther north. Steve Mlodinow and Charlie Wright have both told me that
> this has not always been the case, and that gambellii was formerly more
> common.
>
> In eastern Oklahoma, where I formerly lived, at about this time of year
> gambellii started to show up while during the winter almost all
> White-crowned Sparrows where of the nominate leucophrys races. I wonder
> how the change in ratios occurs here? How late do the gambellii's linger
> and is there a spike in the numbers of gambellii this time of year
> representing spring migrants?
>
> Cameron Cox
> cameron_cox at hotmail.com
> Seattle, WA
>
>
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