Subject: [Tweeters] status of Black-capped Chickadee in the San Juan
Date: Mar 23 21:49:11 2012
From: Wayne Weber - contopus at telus.net


Charles and Tweeters,



As far as I know, there are NO reliable records of Black-capped Chickadee on Vancouver Island, B.C.?s Gulf Islands, or the San Juan Islands.



?The Birds of Washington?, quoting Lewis & Sharpe, lists one record of Black-capped Chickadee from American Camp (Feb. 5, 1988), and four additional ?unconfirmed? records from the San Juans. I don?t know what if any documentation there is for the American Camp record, but I would be very skeptical of anything less than a photo. Some of the claimed eBird records may be from visiting birders who didn?t know that Black-caps are not supposed to be there.



If someone has, or knows of, convincing documentation (photos or specimens) of Black-caps in the San Juans, I hope they will let us know, but the conventional wisdom is that they are absent from the San Juans.



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 Charles Swift
Sent: March-21-12 10:49 AM
To: Tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] status of Black-capped Chickadee in the San Juan Islands



According to "Birding in the San Juan Islands" (Lewis and Sharpe, 1987) Black-capped Chickadees are rare in the San Juans. However looking at eBird I see quite a few records for Black-capped Chickadee in the San Juans, especially on San Juan Island. I realize this book may be out of date now and so was wondering if the Black-capped Chickadee's status has changed in the past 20 years. Increasing development on the island could possibly account for this if it is the case. I visit the island for several days every year in mid-March and have not noted them but I am usually concentrating on water birds in any case.



thanks much,

Charles.




--
Charles Swift
Moscow, Idaho <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow,_Idaho>
46?43?54? N, 116?59?50? W
email: chaetura at gmail.com