[obol] Breeding(?) White-crowned Sparrow, Klamath Co.

[Hendrik Herlyn]

Hi Dave,

this is an interesting observation. I wrote the White-crowned Sparrow account for "Birds of Oregon" and was surprised to find out how little is known about that species' distribution in the Cascades. 

The subspecies "pugetensis" is a common breeder in Western Oregon, especially in the Coast Range and the interior valleys, and it breeds up the west slope of the Cascades, where brushy clearcuts offer suitable habitat. There are very few (if any) definitive breeding records along the Cascade Crest (I believe there are a couple from the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness), and it is largely unknown which subspecies were involved in the few observations from this area.

In the mountains of Eastern Oregon, the much more brightly colored, dark-lored and pink-billed subspecies "oriantha" occurs as a somewhat spottily distributed breeder, usually near water courses with willow or aspen.

I am curious if you were able to determine the subspecies of the bird you observed. I am not aware of any breeding records from the Willamette Pass area and would love to hear about any observations from anywhere in the high Cascades, including the subspecies, if possible.

Good birding

Hendrik

_________________________________

Hendrik G. Herlyn

2445 SW Leonard Street, Apt. 5

Corvallis, OR 97333

USA

Phone: (541)-738-2688

E-Mail: hhactitis at yahoo.com

--- On Sun, 7/20/08, Dave Haupt <dhaupt at tulelake.k12.ca.us> wrote:
From: Dave Haupt <dhaupt at tulelake.k12.ca.us>
Subject: [obol] Breeding(?) White-crowned Sparrow, Klamath Co.
To: obol at oregonbirdwatch.org
Date: Sunday, July 20, 2008, 6:43 PM

OBOL,
   Saturday at Williamette Pass ski area on a casual outing I heard the
"pink" call which I've heard a million times in the fall and
winter, but
obviously not in the summer in Klamath County, because I had to track
down the source.  I had an agitated White-crowned Sparrow calling
repeatedly in an open brushy area in the parking lot of the ski area.  I
watched the bird's behavior for ~3 minutes until a member of my party
honked the horn of the van because I was taking too long and they were
all hot.  The honk happened to flush a second white-crown from the
brush.  Behavior-wise and date-wise (July 19) I'd suggest these birds
were a nesting pair.  Checking Steve Summer's book "Klamath
Birds," and
"Oregon Birds" I couldn't really find (m)any breeding accounts
for
White-crowned Sparrow in the County.  Is the species a common breeder
just west of this location?  Anyone have WCSP records in the summer in
Klamath County?

Dave Haupt
Klamath Falls
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