[Tweeters] Small group of 3 or more White-eyes observed (tentatively Swinhoe’s) - Normandy Park, WA

[Raphael Fennimore]

Hello Tweeters!

As I posted to the King County Birding Chat WhatsApp group, I very confidently saw 2 White-eyes together in my yard on July 26th, and this past week I have ventured out a bit and found a group of at least 3 individuals (and possibly 4) on several occasions.

I understand that differentiating between White-eye species can be very challenging, and so I have attempted to document them well when I have encountered them. Beyond taking photos (including many of their legs in an attempt to rule out banded/worn escapees), I have recorded a fair bit of their audio repertoire now including complex trill calls, slurred whistle calls and whistle variations, soft calling between foraging individuals, possible song, a unique buzz call once, and more.

Preliminary analysis of my photos and audio leads me to *tentatively* ID these birds as Swinhoe’s White-eyes, which hopefully can help start more discussion around them as well, and Dave Slager’s recent observance and checklist has good links comparing audio of these Washington birds to audio of Swinhoe’s White-eyes from the Southern California population.

A few of my lists which include good photos and audio samples can be found here:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S146621238
https://ebird.org/checklist/S146621298

Dave Slager’s checklist can be found here:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S146371653

There are many theories as to the exact identity and provenance of these birds, but personally I believe they are most likely Swinhoe’s which stem from the well-established and rapidly-expanding population of Swinhoe’s White-eyes in Southern California. I have been quite busy this past week, but I will shortly be soliciting feedback from ornithologists from Southern California who are familiar with their White-eyes plus from others with expertise in White-eyes (now that I have collected and posted improved documentation of these birds).

Please do keep your ears and eyes open for these bright energetic little birds!

Raphael Fennimore
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20230806/a1cfccaa/attachment.html>