I can speak for a few other birders Wayne. You do have great ears! And I don't. Always a pleasure having a sentry on a field trip to know when and where to watch for something.

Although I'm a bit south in WA, and somewhat within a sliver of the oak belt, the time-tested and periodically updated WA Birder checklist for Clark County says Nashbille Warbler is code 4 (less than annual.) Last year I saw about a dozen during the spring migration, including 6 in one hour in a nice oak savannah near Washougal. This year I have seen 15 in Ridgefield, including 6 this morning in maple trees. Either there is an increase or Clark County is severely under-birder, which I doubt based on the weekly list generated by dedicated volunteers at Ridgefield NWR. And the migration isn't over yet.

Randy Hill
Ridgefield

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne Weber" <contopus at telus.net>
To: "TWEETERS" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, May 7, 2011 2:41:40 PM
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] Nashville Warblers

Fred and Tweeters,

I can't speak for other birders, but almost every Nashville Warbler I have
found in spring migration around Vancouver, BC (where they are about as rare
as they are in most of western WA) has been detected by song. I have
averaged about 1 or 2 Nashvilles per spring, going back to the late 1960s;
their status has changed little over the years.

Interestingly, Nashvilles are about as rare in fall migration as in spring
around Vancouver-- a total of about 3 to 6 records each migration season.
However, I have NEVER personally recorded one here in fall! I guess that's
because they don't sing in fall, and I am not good at picking out Nashvilles
visually from the other nondescript yellowish fall warblers. I've always
been far better at auditory identification of birds than visual
identification; my hearing is good, but my eyesight is not so good.

So I guess it varies among different birders just how they find these
migrant Nashvilles, but I think it would be fair to say that in spring, a
good percentage of them are picked out by song (which to me is quite
distinctive.)

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




-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Fred Sharpe
Sent: May-06-11 8:59 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Nashville Warblers

The migrant Nashville warblers being found west of the Cascades
are they detected by song?

fred sharpe
port angeles


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