Dennis and Tweeters,



The Purple Finches which breed in central and northern BC, east of the Coast
Range, and eastward to Manitoba, are a different subspecies (Carpodacus
purpureus taverneri) from those which breed in coastal BC (C.p.
californicus). The taverneri form appears to migrate southeastward, and
winters entirely east of the Rockies, and south of Canada. Purple Finches
are almost never seen in winter, or even in migration, in the southern
interior of BC (from Kamloops and Revelstoke southward); Cassin's Finches
breed in this area.



Although more than 99% of taverneri Purple Finches winter south of Canada,
recently a few have spent the winter in places like Edmonton and Prince
George, both of which recorded a few Purple Finches on their Christmas Bird
Counts this year.



Even the coastal "californicus" form of Purple Finch seems to be mostly
migratory in BC, although I'm not sure how far south they go. Although
Purple Finches are fairly common in winter around Vancouver and the Fraser
Delta, wintering numbers are dramatically lower than they were in the 1950s
and 1960s-perhaps only 10% to 20% of the numbers that wintered here 50 years
ago.



Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC

contopus at telus.net







From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis
Paulson
Sent: March-14-08 3:40 PM
To: Tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] Purple Finch seasonality



Hello, tweets.



I was looking at the range map for Purple FInch and noticed that there is a
large breeding range in western Canada north of us in which the birds are
said to be migratory, pulling out during the winter. This is a much larger
area than the resident range in Washington. Where do these birds go in
winter?



I'm wondering if anyone sees numbers of Purple FInches anywhere in this
region in the winter where they're not present in summer, or sees much
larger numbers in winter than summer. I can't say that I've seen this, so
I'm asking purely out of curiosity.

-----

Dennis Paulson

1724 NE 98 St.

Seattle, WA 98115

206-528-1382

dennispaulson at comcast.net