Hi Brien, Wayne, and others:



Brien, based on my own experience and Tweeters reports this year (and last as well) I agree with your sense?that there may be an upward trend.? I've been keeping detailed records of my sightings on all my birding trips for the last six years (less?thorough in previous years, so I don't 'count' those).? Prior to last year, the only Nashville Warblers I saw were in the mountains in Washington and Oregon.? Last year, I had a banner year locally?- and all of the Nashville's I found were by sight, with a lot of good luck.? My personal sightings from last year (2010) were:



April 18th - Three Forks, Snoqualmie, WA - this bird was pretty early, but not overtly so based on some Marymoor Park and other records as I recall from some discussion on Tweeters following my report of this bird.



May 1st and 2nd - Three Forks, Snoqualmie, WA - I presume this was most likely the same bird as it was seen on subsequent days and close to the same specific area in the park.



May 10th - Backyard, Snoqualmie, WA - this bird was ten feet outside my window in plain view in the small recirculating stream we placed in that location specifically to provide a nice incentive for migrants to stop by and be easily observed.? The bird bathed and drank, then flew off not to be seen again.



June 5th - Discovery Park, Seattle.? This bird was quite late, and was seen on the monthly bird survey route I've been doing for a number of years at Discovery.? This was my first Nashville in that park.? The bird was seen from a distance of ten to twenty feet at eye level, after initially seeing it working through some bushes and making the preliminary ID by binocs, then I was able to get very close and confirm the easy ID.



Sept 5th - Three Forks, Snoqualmie, WA



My Nashville karma appears to have been spent last year, because I have no sightings (or?ID's by ear)?this season so far, despite what seems like an abundance of reports on Tweeters this year.? This is of course only one person's data, and I did spend more time in the field last year than I had in most previous years.? Additionally, Snoqualmie is in (or at least close to) the foothills, and so sightings out here may not be representative of the lower elevations in the Puget Trough.? Our house is at about?750 feet elevation and Three Forks I believe is around 400 feet.



John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net


----- Original Message -----
From: "Brien Meilleur" <brienm at live.com>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Saturday, May 7, 2011 3:24:56 PM
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] Nashville Warblers

Hey Tweets and Wayne,
Wayne states that the status of Nashville Warblers in the Vancouver B.C. area "has changed little over the years"...that he averages about 1 or 2 per spring. My impression is this may not quite be true for Western Washington, and particularly for the Seattle area...as my sense is that spring sightings have increased substantially and continually over at least the last several years. Perhaps Brad W., Gene H. or someone keeping historical data on Nashville sightings could confirm this impression, or not. I personally did not record a Nashville Warbler in Western Washington before 2007...and since then they seem to be reported with increasingly regularity in the Seattle area. Without specifically consulting tweeters reports, my sense is that this spring perhaps as many as a dozen have already been reported. I saw one this morning in Magnuson Park but did not report it because I've come to believe that Nashvilles are just no longer rare or uncommon in Western Washington as they once were.
Brien Meilleur
Lake Forest Park, WA
brienm at live.com

> From: contopus at telus.net
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: RE: [Tweeters] Nashville Warblers
> Date: Sat, 7 May 2011 14:41:40 -0700
>
> 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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