[obol] Can Rock Wren mimic Canyon Wren?

[Wayne C. Weber]

Andy and Oregon Birders,

I've heard thousands of Rock Wrens, and I've never heard one mimic a
Canyon Wren (or any other species, for that matter). So if you
thought you heard a Canyon Wren singing, it probably was a Canyon
Wren.

John Fitchen, in his book on Multnomah County birds, lists
both Rock Wren and Canyon Wren as "code 4" birds (less than one
record per year). I'm sure that John or someone else has a list
of county records somewhere. However, for the record, I have
a sighting of Canyon Wren dating from August 1964: a singing bird
at the campground near the mouth of Eagle Creek (barely
inside the county boundary). I could look up the exact date if
anyone is interested.

I would expect Rock Wrens to turn up much more often than Canyon
Wrens west of the Cascade crest in Oregon. Rock Wrens are highly
migratory, and often show up far outside their normal breeding
range; Canyon Wrens are non-migratory, and very unusual as vagrants.


Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andy Frank" <andy.frank at kp.org>
To: <obol at lists.orst.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 3:25 PM
Subject: [obol] Can Rock Wren mimic Canyon Wren?


Today Wink Gross and I hiked around Larch Mountain in Multnomah County.  At
Sherrard Point, at the top of Larch, we listened for awhile in vain for Rock
Wren.  I then played a tape of it; no response.  I then played the tape for
Canyon Wren and immediately a singing ROCK WREN popped up on the rocks east
of the viewpoint.  We then heard what sounded like a CANYON WREN.  We only
heard this once.  When we heard this, I had the impression that this was
coming from a different direction (northeast rather than east) but Wink
didn't.  I don't know if Canyon Wren has been previously found in Multnomah
County; if so I know it is quite uncommon.  So if Rock Wrens do mimic Canyon
Wrens, it was probably just the Rock Wren we saw and my ears played tricks
on me with the location of where the sound came from.

So do Rock Wrens mimic Canyon Wrens?

Other birds found today included SOOTY GROUSE (heard from Sherrard Point);
HERMIT, VARIED AND SWAINSON'S THRUSH; MACGILLIVRAYS, HERMIT, WILSONS AND
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS; ANNA'S AND RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS.

Thanks, Andy Frank


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