[obol] Re: s. Eugene WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH

[Wilson Cady]

   Bill Clemmons was right when he said that the "Slender-billed"
WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES can be found year round in the Oregon Ash 
woodlands at the Ridgefield NWR. They are also resident birds in 
mature cottonwood stands on Lady Island in Camas and in cottonwoods at 
the Steigerwald Lake NWR, near Washougal. The 1940 Gabrielson and 
Jewett "Birds of the Oregon" mentioned that this sub-species utilizes 
oaks, ash and cottonwood forests.
   A few years ago the Washington Department of Natural Resources 
(DNR) was doing a census of this sub-species in Clark County and 
focused on oak forests only. After they were shown the resident 
populations in cottonwoods they had to revise their search parameters. 
The "Slender-billed" WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH is gone from most of 
western Washington along with our oak forests. Clark County is the 
last bastion for both of these species in Washington and the DNR has 
established the largest remaining stand of Oregon White Oaks in 
western Washington as the "Washougal Oaks Natural Area", next to the 
Steigerwald Lake NWR, as a study area.


Wilson Cady
Washougal, WA