[obol] About possible Golden-crowned Sp. breeding

[DAVID IRONS]

There is a huge difference between finding a  Golden-crowned Sparrow in 
Oregon during April and one in July.  The northbound passage of 
Golden-crowned Sparrows (like many species of passerines) is doubled-pulsed. 
  Wintering birds usually start disappearing from local feeding stations in 
early April and there is often a week or so towards the end of April when 
they are seemingly gone.  Then a second pulse occurs (usually very end of 
April through about 10 May) when small migrant flocks reappear.  I've seen 
up to 30 a day during this window at Skinner Butte and other migratory 
stopovers.  These birds are presumably arriving from wintering grounds to 
the south of us.  Golden-crowned Sparrows nest well to the north of Oregon 
and there is only one poorly documented report of nesting in the state.  The 
presence of singing birds in April or even May is not suggestive of local 
nesting since Golden-crowned Sparrows are year-round singers.

Conversely, Phil Pickering's report of a bird apparently defending territory 
at Cascade Head in recent days is much more intriguing.  I can't ever recall 
a mid-summer report of this species in Oregon in over 30 years of birding.  
There are dozens of species of vagrants that are less rare in Oregon than a 
summering Golden-crowned Sparrow.  The presence of the bird found by Phil at 
Cascade Head does not lend credibility to the earlier claim of local nesting 
Golden-crowned Sparrows (based on April reports) near Dallas.  We should 
note that there have been no further reports of Golden-crowned Sparrows from 
the Dallas area during summer months.

Dave Irons
Eugene, OR


>From: "Tom McNamara" <tmacport99 at hotmail.com>
>To: obol at lists.oregonstate.edu
>Subject: [obol] About possible Golden-crowned Sp. breeding
>Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 10:14:59 -0700
>
>
>A couple days ago Pat Waldron beat me to the punch by re- posting an 
>earlier post saved from mid-April written by Andrew Marsall regarding 
>breeding Golden-crowned sparrows around Dallas.   In it, she asked if 
>indeed they were breeding there this summer  or, if not, when they'd left.
>
>As I  say, I  too had intended, come July, to ask about this because the 
>original posting and response interplay seemed intriguing:   several OBOL 
>pundits  expressed skepticism about Golden-crowneds breeding there and 
>Andrew  seemed unyieldingly confident of his original assertion. Hmmmmmmm, 
>I thought, who's right here?
>
>OK, so Pat posted and, as yet, there is no response on the listserv.   I 
>would've  just emailed Andrew and Pat directly except that I don't have 
>their email addresses (the addresses no longer appear on the listserv, and 
>I have opted not to have all the postings come in on my email--I just read  
>OBOL on the Net). So if you access OBOL  like me and want to email me 
>directly my address is:   tmacport99 at hotmail.com
>
>It occurs to me that others too might want to know the outcome.
>
>thanks and good birding,
>Tom
>
>
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