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CASSIN'S VIREO

Other common names: Solitary Vireo.

Museum Specimens - Longmire (2700).

The morning of August 6, 1937, was rainy, and some "small stuff" such as chickadees and warblers were feeding through the woods behind the Longmire Inn. An odd-looking bird in their company proved, when captured, to be a Cassin's vireo, our only record for the park. This bird was decidedly out of its natural environment as it prefers the more open woods, with a sprinkling of oak trees. Our forests are too dense and dark, and the oak tree is missing. It is fairly common below in the Tacoma prairie woods where the fir and oak grow together.

Cassin's vireos are greenish on the back, the head grayish, flanks yellow, underparts white. There is a distinct white ring about the eye and the throat is also white.

Its nest is a beautifully constructed basket, woven and hung on a small branch, suspended from the two prongs. It is strongly made and deep-cupped, of bark fibres, moss end plant-down, and lined with grass stems. After completion, the sides are decorated with white spider cocoons, looking much like white cherry blossoms. It prefers the small oaks as a nesting site, often choosing a branch on which the last year's dead leaves cling. The nest is usually placed on a lower limb and well camouflaged, the white decorations harmonizing with the sunlight penetrating from above. Three to five white eggs with blackish spots ringing the larger end, are laid. The male takes his turn at incubating and sings from the nest - a weakness the oologist has learned!

I always enjoy finding nests of the Cassin's vireo, and the singing male leads me to the nesting vicinity. Often he is on the nest himself, incubating. The female is a close sitter and several times I have stroked her back, but only when the young awere hatching. The last week in May is usually the time for fresh eggs, but I have found them as early as May 4.

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WESTERN WARBLING VIREO

Other common names: Greenlet.

Museum Specimens - Sunshine Point (2000); Longmire (2700).

Here is a vireo that is common in the park. They inhabit the alders extending along the river bottoms where their continuous song is heard throughout the spring and summer. The alder groves along the Nisqually River from the entrance to Longmire are favorite nesting grounds. They extend their breeding range as far up as Canyon Rim (4500'). The White and Ohanapecosh River beds also lead them into the park.

These warbling vireos are plainly dressed and their colors blend perfectly with the green leaves of the alder; they have no contrasting colors, being grayish on the back and white below with a faint line over the eye. Dawson in his "Birds of Washington" describes them as "altogether the plainest-colored bird of the American avifauna" They have one small identifying feature - the first primary feather on the wing is very short compared with the others.

Nesting begins in June. Three or four white eggs, marked sparingly with black spots or specks at the larger end, complete the set. The nest is woven and hangs from the fork of a small branch as does that of the Cassin's vireo. In the park more green moss is used as material and the nest is lined with coarse grasses instead of cottonwood down. The outside is usually plain, but occasionally decorations are added.

Sometimes the western warbling vireo goes decoratively crazy, so much so that the nest becomes conspicuous against the green alder leaves. I recall one bird that covered the outside with white chicken feathers, building on a branch overhanging the sidewalk. It was as showy as a "neon" sign at night! Another decorated with bunches of cottonwood seeds that later opened, turning her nest into a fluffy white ball.

In our city gulches the bird may discover a bit of white string and carry it to her nest for decorative purposes. Only one end is used, the rest left to hang over and blow in the wind, readily attracting the eye of the passing oologist.

These vireos are fussy about their nests end often desert them if touched or handled. In apparent rage, they sometimes tear the nest to bits breaking the eggs or spilling them on the ground.

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LUTESCENT WARBLER

Museum Specimens - Longmire (2700); Paradise (5400); Yakima Park (6400).

This quietly dressed warbler is to be found in fairly deep woods where the vine maples grow under the firs and moss carpets the ground. In spring it can be located by the song of the male as he repeats it over and over, feeding from branch to branch. It is a quiet song, ending in a trill so low that the listener must be near the bird to hear it. This bird is found in such out-of-the-way places that it is difficult to estimate how common it is in the park. We really see more of them during the fall migration.

Lutescent warblers are olive-green on the back, underneath parts yellow, the breast and sides dingier. The adult birds have an orange-red patch on the crown that is lacking on the immature bird.

These warblers have two broods a year - April 15 and June 15. They nest in the deep moss or on the ground under some bush in thick woods. They prefer a slightly sloping bank or the side of a small depression. The nest is level with the ground and made of grasses, at times resting on a few dead leaves. The eggs, three to five (usually four) are white with brown spots and markings, heaviest at the larger end. The females are close sitters and when flushed flutter off along the ground to disappear in the underbrush.

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CALIFORNIA YELLOW WARBLER

Other common names: Summer Yellow Bird; Wild Canary.

The yellow warbler is a common summer bird throughout its broad range from the Atlantic to the Pacific, so we have our share of them in certain sections of the park. Stevens Canyon, with its brushy slopes, is an attractive summer range, as are the woods behind the Longmire Inn. They like an open, bushy country with some water and willows. The ornithologist, working through, has an opportunity to see and study the bright colored males, as they are continuous feeders, flitting through the tops of the bushes. The chestnut stripes are readily recognized.

This warbler is strictly a summer bird with us, arriving late and leaving early. It nests in June about the time the willow tassels are breaking, this "cotton" being much used as nesting material. Wood fibre is woven in with the "cotton" and the nest placed in a fork of an upright branch. Four or five dull white eggs with markings of brown mostly at the larger end, are laid.

These birds can be identified as the yellowest of our "yellow warblers". The male is bright yellow, darker and more greenish on the back. The breast and flanks are marked with chestnut-colored stripes, more noticeable in the spring. The female is duller, more greenish and without the stripes.

Fortunately, in western Washington we do not have the cowbird. This parasite makes no nest of its own but lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, who incubate and hatch the cowbird's young. The yellow warbler, however, does not accept these conditions and when it finds a foreign egg it proceeds to fit another cup over the cowbird's contribution and starts all over again. It seems to lack the idea of rolling the unwelcome egg out of the nest.

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AUDUBON'S WARBLER

Museum Specimens - Nisqually Entrance (2000) Reflection Lakes (4800).

Here is the warbler with the five yellow spots, one on the crown, one on the throat, one on each side and one on the rump. Try to count them as you watch the bird while walking around Reflection Lake. Although it is a true tree warbler, it likes the open woods, and the alpine growth is the most suitable place for it in the park.

In addition to the yellow spots, the black breast and white underparts show plainly, and the gray on the back contrasts with the yellow rump. In our park the Audubon can be confused only with the Townsend's warbler. Both birds show yellow markings and both inhabit the green timber.

Audubon's warblers arrive early and nest early. The males can be seen and heard at timberline while several feet of snow still lingers beneath the green alpine trees. They have parted company with their traveling companions, the bluebirds, and nest-building soon occupies their attention.

At low levels fresh eggs are laid by April 15, but in the high country it would be a month later. In the clean Douglas firs at low levels, the nest can be seem from below, straddled on a horizontal limb, but in the thick, moss-covered branches of alpine firs and hemlocks it is a very difficult object to find. The nest is of tiny twigs and rootlets lined with feathers in such a way that some of them hang as a canopy over the eggs in a decorative style. The eggs, three to five, are very handsome - white with a green cast and marked with brown, lavender and black. Two broods a year are raised.

Audubon's warblers remain late in the fall; in fact, some occasionally winter in the Puget Sound country. They linger, feeding with the bluebirds, but depart in their company.

What a mistake our educational forces made when the goldfinch was chosen as the "state bird" - a bird that should represent Kansas, Nebraska, or some other sunflower state. What a pity the varied thrush or Audubon's warbler was overlooked, either of these birds being a true representative of the Pacific Northwest.

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TOWNSEND'S WARBLER

Museum Specimens - Longmire (2700); Cowlitz Divide (4770); Nickel Creek (3300).

If a prize were offered for the handsomest and most beautiful bird in the park, it would undoubtedly be awarded to this warbler - an animated gem of black and gold.

Townsend's warblers, though considered rare in most parts of Washington, are fairly common birds in some of our mountain ranges, especially the Blewitt and Cascade Mountains. They are not birds of our deepest forests but prefer the more open weeded hillside slopes.

The adult male in high plumage is black on crown and throat, sides of head yellow with a black patch under and behind the eye. The breast and flanks are yellow striped with black, remaining underparts white, with white on blackish tail feathers. The back is dark green marked with black, the throat, and immature birds lack the black on the head.

During the month of May there is a steady migration through Mount Rainier National Park as they travel through the forests on the high ridges.

On May 27, 1937, I reached the top of Cowlitz Divide. The day was bright and warm and the snow so dazzling that smoked glasses had to be worn. Passing through the dark-green tree tops was a migratory flight of male Townsend's warblers. Their bright markings showed beautifully against the green background. At the risk of my sight off came the glasses; it was the first, and perhaps would be my only chance to witness so wonderful a display of such beautiful birds.

A week later, at the Box Canyon bridge, these warblers were again observed, but by this time the females had joined them. One memorable picture was of a male Townsend, a male Audubon and a male golden pileolated warbler feeding together in a bare willow.

As a result of my own observations I am inclined to believe the Townsend's warbler is a bit pugnacious with his own kind. In June I have more than once observed males chasing each other through the firs, and at times a mixup would result. Once, on the westside highway, two highly colored birds dropped from a branch high overhead, twisting and fighting through the air to land in a dusty ditch with bills and claws locked - two princes in gold and black quarreling like little street ruffians.

Townsend's warblers nest in June. The nest of bark fibre and twigs lined with weed-stems, etc., is often placed in a small fir near the trunk. The eggs, four or five, are white wreathed with brown and lilac on the larger end.

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MACGILLVRAY'S WARBLER

Other common names: Tolmie's Warbler.

We of Mount Rainier National Park wish emphatically that the original name of this warbler could have been retained. J. K. Townsend, our early naturalist, discovered and described this bird in 1839, dedicating it in his narrative "to my friend W. F. Tolmie, Esq., of Ft. Vancouver". It seems that later Audubon secured Townsend's collection of skins and took it upon himself to name the bird in honor of the British naturalist, Macgillivray. The latter was never a great explorer, never came to America, and his reputation, so far as we know, consists of assisting Audubon with his manuscript in England.

On the other hand, Dr. Tolmie was a great naturalist, botanist and scientist who traveled through this northwestern wilderness in Townsend's time. He was the first white man to enter what is now Mount Rainier National Park in 1833 in search of and studying plants that might have medical properties. The latin name of Oporornis tolmiei still exists and is recognized. Why should not the common name of Tolmie's warbler?

These warblers can be identified from other "yellow" warblers by their slaty-blue head and throat; the back is greenish, underparts yellow. The female's colors are duller.

The Tolmie is a bird of the thickets, and ranges from sea level to the Canadian zone or, with us, the lowest areas of the park. Taylor and Shaw report them as summering in Stevens Canyon where the brushy condition is ideal for their summer home.

The nest is placed near the ground in a well-covered bush. The snowberry (Symphoricarpos mollis) is a favorite site and affords complete concealment. The wild, or brier rose bush is also chosen. The nest is of grasses, rather loosely made. The eggs, three to five, are handsome, white with markings of clean brown and lavendar. When approached, the female sneaks off and silently disappears. One never gets a glimpse of her on the nest.

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GOLDEN PILEOLATED WARBLER

Other common names: Golden Warbler; Wilson's Warbler of eastern U. S.

Museum Specimens - Tahoma Creek (2100).

Our pileolated warbler is the most abundant warbler in the park, both in numbers and as breeding birds. They are reported in summer from all sections - Stevens Creek, Longmire Meadows, Tahoma Creek, Reflection Lake, Windy Gap, Lake Ethel and other points around the Mountain.

The birds enter the park in spring, about May 1, and after the breeding season seem to roam in bands, feeding but not migrating through the deciduous growth such as the salmonberry and alder. One such group was observed at Tahoma Creek on August 1, 1934.

This little warbler has a bright yellow head and underparts, olive-green back, and can be recognized instantly by the velvety black cap or crown. The female, like the other "yellow" warblers, is duller in color.

They nest in June and are very abundant in Stevens Canyon where the brush is thick and the salmonberry covers acres along the creek. The nest of leaves and grasses is substantially made like that of our song sparrow, but smaller. Local ornithologists inform us that the greatest percentage of nests found are at the base of some small coniferous tree such as the cedar. Their nests are difficult to find. When disturbed the female flushes silently. The eggs, three to five in number, are like those of most warblers, white with spots or markings of brown.

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Descriptions continued...