I checked the annual Audubon Wenas Memorial Day Weekend Camp Out (Yakima/Kittitas Countys) lists and starting in 2000, we recorded Anna's Hummingbirds in the count area for five years in a row. And I would agree with Gene Hunn, that the Columbia River Gorge is the most likely corridor for movement of Anna's Hummingbirds to the east side and I would also add Western Scrub-Jay and Lesser Goldfinch to the list of species following this route. The Columbia River Gorge is a nearly sea level break through the Cascade Mountains, which coupled with the way the land in Skamania and western Klickitat Counties slopes from the Columbia River north to Mt. Saint Helens on the west and Mt. Adams to the east make the Gorge the south side of the Cascades and presents only habitat barriers to bird movements. Wilson Cady
Columbia River Gorge, WA

---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Eugene Hunn" <enhunn323 at comcast.net>
To: "'Jennifer Jarstad'" <jennjarstad at gmail.com>, <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Cc:
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] Re: Range Expansion for Anna's Hummingbird
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 17:21:23 -0700


Tweets,

I&rsquo;ve been lurking on this thread from down here in Petaluma, CA. Perhaps others have noted the same but in the 1990s and later I could regularly find Anna&rsquo;s Hummingbirds apparently on territory in the Ceanothus brush at the old Lyle/Klickitat River campground about a mile above the bridge at the Columbia. I was struck by the fact that the Anna&rsquo;s there seemed to be breeding in natural habitat quite reminiscent of their typical California haunts. Maybe the east slope Anna&rsquo;s have moved up from the east end of the Columbia Gorge.

Gene Hunn
Petaluma, CA

From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Jennifer Jarstad
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2014 1:05 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Range Expansion for Anna's Hummingbird

The past two years we have had an unusually warm spring and early onset of summer. I am not sure how much this influences the movement of Anna's hummingbirds as they are relatively hardy when it comes to cold weather, but they do seem to be expanding into new territories every year. Some of them now winter over in parts of Alaska. I think it's exciting to watch them migrate into new areas and climates. I think time will tell how permanent they become in these harsher climates, but I don't think it's premature to mention given how often it is occurring.

Jennifer Jarstad
Seattle, WA
jennjarstad at gmail.com