[obol] ..cardinal in Oregon?

[David Fix Jude Power]

   I seem to recall from the recent Rare Birds Of California book that there's a nice image of the sw. race superba, which they point out has a longer crest and the black doesn't meet above the bill.  Maybe the bird in the Wiallemette Valley can be seen well enough to determine if it has those characteristics or not.  I would be surprised were a "wild" Southwestern U.S. or Mexican cardinal to be proven to have made it to Oregon on its own.  I think the chances for a vagrant proving out would best be met by a bird seen closely, or measured, and determined to be an Eastern cardinal and with no apparent signs of captivity.  Of course, the birds deal with much worse than Oregon winters and might conceivably persist long enough to go through a molt and replace all damaged feathers.  Such a bird without bands and with no leg or bill damage could remain ambiguous or, worse (for what it matters) be "accepted."            

   I think the reports should be treated by the records committee as any others might, and judgment be deferred unless and until some greater pattern of vagrancy in the Pacific States emerges.  A dull immature cardinal or two in October out on the Farallons or at some oasis in w. Nevada would arch birders' supercilia for sure.  The case for natural occurrence in Oregon is not strengthened by what I will boldly assume to be a scarcity of non-ad. male reports from anywhere outside the normal range, contra the case with, say, the Painted Bunting in California.  In CA the increase in reports of "green" buntings--particularly an autumn peak, with a good proportion of the birds seen at vagrant traps--led to fuller recognition that this species does occur naturally as a vagrant. This doesn't seem to be the case with the cardinal in Oregon.

   Could a Northern Cardinal in Oregon that shows no signs of possibly having been held captive be accepted onto whatever "ID Established, Origin Questionable" list the OBRC maintains?       

David Fix
Arcata, California
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