Subject: [Tweeters] FWD: RE: [obol] WESTERN TANAGER: Open Questions for
Date: May 15 21:05:44 2008
From: Bill Clemons - willclemons at yahoo.com


Greetings All,

It is not particularly uncommon to see flocks of 40+ and up to 100 or more W. Tanagers in the Willamette Valley this time of year. Typically, the best "fallouts" occur on days that are cold with heavy cloud cover. Over the years I have enjoyed many days on Skinner Butte where over 50 tanagers were seen/heard and probably 5-10 days where I thought at least 100 were on the Butte. This morning (May 15) was one of those days. Maitreya and I stood in the upper meadow and watched many small flocks pass north across the top of the Butte. The Pioneer Cemetary on the U of O campus (more than a city block in size and dominated by large Douglas Firs) has been particularly good on many past spring days. I have seen upwards of 150 W. Tanagers in this cemetary on at least three occasions, all on days where it was cool and overcast. The optimal time window for this type of tanager fallout is about 5-20 May, so this is the perfect time to see big numbers.

While working in n. Eugene on Tuesday (May 13th), I heard and saw at least 75 W. Tanagers, and that was without bins. The same day I heard and saw at least three Hammond's Flycatchers, at least 20 Warbling Vireos, 50+ Orange-crowned Warblers (could have easily been twice this many), 50+ Wilson's Warblers, and dozens of Black-headed Grosbeaks. Also, we don't normally think of Spotted Towhees as a migrant, but on this day I heard and saw at least 25 towhees in areas where I don't encounter just a few during the nesting season. Given how conspicuous these birds were, I have to assume most were migrants.

Dave Irons
Eugene, OR


> Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 07:06:00 -0700
> From: willclemons at yahoo.com
> To: obol at oregonbirdwatch.org
> Subject: [obol] WESTERN TANAGER: Open Questions for Folks in the know
>
> OBOLers and Tweets,
>
> A quick read of Only the Sunday May 11 posts to OBOL and Tweeters clearly indicates that a lot of folks out there are seeing a lot of WESTERN TANAGERS. It is highly likely that others saw, but did not post, and also that there were many TANAGER flocks that were not seen.
>
> A) Sunday on Mt Tabor, Em Scattaregia and her twins, Adrian and Christopher Hinkle reported 100+.
>
> B) Sunday on Rowena Plateau, Mike Pike reported 40+
>
> C) Sunday in Jackson County, Jim & Karan Fairchild reported "numerous"
>
> D) Sunday on U of O campus, Khanh Tran reported 100+
>
> E) Sunday at Ridgefield NWR, Al Larrabee and I reported 40+
>
> F) Sunday in Everett, Jeff Gibson reported a "tree full".
>
> G) Several other birders reporting handfuls, several, loads, etc.
>
> QUESTIONS:
>
> 1) How does this influx compare to those witnessed in the past?
>
> 2) How frequently does an influx like this occur?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bill Clemons
> SW of Portland in Mtn Park
> Willclemons AT Yahoo dot com