Tweeters,



Once again, I feel compelled to add my voice to Brad Waggoner's. In
Washington and in BC, spring arrival dates for Red-eyed Vireos earlier than
mid-May are almost unheard of, and need to be very well documented.



In the Vancouver area of BC, where Red-eyed Vireos are commoner than
anywhere in western Washington, we have arrival dates on record for 27 years
between 1968 and 2004. The mean arrival date is May 29th; the earliest EVER
is May 14th. Red-eyed Vireos are consistently among the last 3 or 4 species
of breeding birds to arrive every spring.



It should be pointed out that in the eastern U.S., where the Red-eyed Vireo
is one of the most abundant of all birds, usual first arrival dates are in
April in many areas. It is not impossible that one or a few Red-eyes could
arrive in April in the Pacific Northwest, especially in years like this one
where we have had a couple of warm fronts which might produce "spring
overshoots" of normally later-arriving species. However, despite these
comments, there is no precedent for records of Red-eyed Vireos in April or
early May in our area, and I agree with Brad that good documentation is
needed for early records.



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 Brad
Waggoner
Sent: April-25-12 7:50 PM
To: tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] Red-eyed Vireo arrival in Washington



Hi all,

Me again. Sorry to sound like a broken record here, but I thought I should
pipe-in on another species that really needs to be careful scrutinized and
documented at this early of a date in spring. When it comes to Red-eyed
Vireos, they typically do not arrive until the first week in June on both
sides of the Cascades. There are about 25 records of their arrival from mid
May until the end of May, but prior to May 13 there are no adequately
documented records for this species in Washington.

If indeed there are some Red-eyed Vireos arriving in this state at this
time, then some very interesting phenomenon is occurring and documentation
of their presence would be fabulous.

Cheers and good birding,

Brad Waggoner
Bainbridge Island
mailto:wagtail at sounddsl.com