[Tweeters] Did someone say varied thrush / state bird

[Peter Wimberger]

Hi Tweets,
Because I am developing a big crush on Stanley Jewett, a prominent PNW
ornithologist and museum collector, this question interested me.  Plus
there's a big irony that the subspecies Willow Goldfinch, our original
state bird, isn't even found here.  The subspecies of goldfinch in western
Washington is one of the few things named after Jewett, a vastly
underappreciated biologist (not even a Wikipedia page!). He was a coauthor
of the first comprehensive bird books for Oregon and Washington.  Based on
very  quick research and please correct me if I'm wrong - Washington has
two subspecies of American Goldfinch - jewetti in the west and pallidus in
the east. Spinus tristis jewetti or the Pacific Northwest Goldfinch was
erected by Van Rossem in 1943.  Prior to that it was thought that the
subspecies in western Oregon and Washington was the Willow Goldfinch S. t.
salicamans, which ranges to southern California on the west side of the
Sierra Nevadas and Cascades. In the last half of the 19th c and first half
of the 20th c identifying birds to subspecies was a thing,  a thing that I
think was used to show where one stood in the ornithology hierarchy.  If
you look at Birds of Oregon and Birds of Washington, just like the old
Bent's Birds of North America, all species are identified to subspecies.

The Washington state bird was finally declared as Willow Goldfinch in 1951
after many years of haggling.  Ironically by 1951 the Willow Goldfinch was
no longer the subspecies recognized as the one residing in W. Washington.
And no wonder folks in E. Washington feel marginalized by the state
legislature (what are we, chopped pallidus?).  It would be really
interesting to know if the State Archives has the correspondence and other
material pertaining to the decision.  It could make for a fun WOS talk.
I'm all in on a new state bird.
Best,
Peter Wimberger
Tacoma, WA and the Slater Museum of Natural History
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