Tweeters,



A couple of minor corrections to Dennis Paulson's comments about
Black-capped Chickadees:



(1) Black-caps are not common "all around Vancouver Island". They are
abundant in the Vancouver area on the mainland, but are uncommon to rare on
the Sunshine Coast (Sechelt and Pender Harbour area), farther north across
Howe Sound. They are basically absent from the mainland coast north of the
Sunshine Coast. They do come down a few of the major rivers (e.g. the
Squamish and Bella Coola Rivers) to the heads of inlets, where they inhabit
cottonwood stands along these large streams. However, along the northern
part of Vancouver Island, where the Johnstone Strait is only a couple of
miles wide (and it would be easy for chickadees to cross), there are NO
Black-caps on the mainland coast, which in this area is virtually unbroken
conifer forest. This would explain why Black-caps never got to Vancouver
Island.



You can check out the breeding distribution of Black-caps in BC by going to
the BC Breeding Bird Atlas webpage at
http://www.birdatlas.bc.ca/bcdata/maps.jsp and selecting "Black-capped
Chickadee" from the drop-down menu. So, far, there are no Atlas records of
Black-caps on Vancouver Island or the Gulf Islands, and the absence of
Black-caps on the mainland coast north of Greater Vancouver is striking.



(2) The variant song of Black-capped Chickadees has not spread yet as
far north as coastal BC or extreme northwestern WA. In Whatcom County, which
I bird very frequently, I just hear the standard two-note "fee-beee". I'm
not sure how far north this oddball song has spread from Oregon, where it
apparently got started, but as Dennis said, it would be interesting to study
the distribution of the variant song pattern and how it has changed over
time.



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 Dennis
Paulson
Sent: March-27-12 9:43 AM
To: TWEETERS tweeters
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Tweeters: Status of Black-capped Chickadee



Actually, the PNW coast Black-capped Chickadee is a quite distinct
subspecies, even recognizable in the field as different, so it has surely
been in this region for a while (but who knows how long it would have taken
to evolve that difference?). As Gene said, it isn't really adapted to the
climax vegetation here, which is the Chestnut-back's domain. Black-caps were
probably originally in the alders, maples and cottonwoods along the rivers.
Black-capped have been local on the Olympic Peninsula and have doubtless
increased with the cutting of the original forests and regrowth of broadleaf
species. Their absence from Vancouver Island is telling, as they are common
all around it on the mainland. Chickadees are not known as good over-water
dispersers, yet Chestnut-backed has done well at that in this region.



Black-caps like deciduous, Chestnut-backs coniferous forests, to say it most
simply. Where the two forest types are mixed it's not at all unusual to find
both species. It's the same for Black-caps and Mountains east of the
Cascades, and both of those species come to feeders together in many areas,
I have heard. Mountains are in drier, more open conifer forests than
Chestnut-backs, but those two species occur together up in our eastern
mountains. Perhaps someone in the region has three chickadee species coming
to their feeders. Anyone?



Many of you know that the Puget Sound Black-capped have their own distinct
song dialect, quite different from the rest of their species. That has been
studied, but not recently, and it would be interesting to have a survey done
of the entire region from Vancouver, BC, to Portland or beyond, so learn
what the prevailing chickadee song is in each area. A two-noted whistle
(feeeee-beee) describes it all across the continent, including in eastern
WA, but here in the PS region the whistles are multiplied, often around five
at a time (feee-bee-bee-bee-bee). What do your chickadees sound like? They
are starting to whistle now, at least in my yard.



Dennis



-----

Dennis Paulson

1724 NE 98 St.

Seattle, WA 98115

206-528-1382

dennispaulson at comcast.net