ID-FRONTIERS for August 20-26, 2000

Messages are displayed in the order they were received.  Subject  From  Date   Time   Bahrain gull pics   Martin Reid    Sun, 20 Aug 2000   8:28am   Re: Albatross: a conservative advocate   David James    Sun, 20 Aug 2000   7:28pm   Caspian Tern photos from UK   Martin Birch    Tue, 22 Aug 2000   1:40am   The Sibley Guide to Birds   Beth and Will Russel   Tue, 22 Aug 2000   7:01am   Re: The Sibley Guide to Birds   Bill Principe    Tue, 22 Aug 2000   7:23am   Re: The Sibley Guide to Birds   Bob Abrams    Tue, 22 Aug 2000   7:49am   Sibley Guide to Birds   Jennifer Hanson    Tue, 22 Aug 2000   9:07am   AOUCLC on Green-winged Teals   Andrew Kratter    Tue, 22 Aug 2000   9:42am   Grave   Campbell Colin MSM N   Tue, 22 Aug 2000   12:21pm   Re: Grave   Bill Principe    Tue, 22 Aug 2000   1:49pm   Re: Grave   Dave Rintoul    Tue, 22 Aug 2000   5:29pm   Re: Grave   Chris Sloan    Tue, 22 Aug 2000   5:19pm   Mystery Grouse Photo   Ryan Shaw    Tue, 22 Aug 2000   9:00pm   Re: Grave   Peter and Carol Wilk   Wed, 23 Aug 2000   3:44am   Re: AOUCLC on Green-winged Teals   Dick Newell    Wed, 23 Aug 2000   8:45pm   Re: AOUCLC on Green-winged Teals   Dick Newell    Thu, 24 Aug 2000   2:16am   Interesting Cowbird - Bald Point, Florida   Noel Wamer    Thu, 24 Aug 2000   2:11pm   Re: Interesting Cowbird - Bald Point, Florida   Florida Nature Tours   Thu, 24 Aug 2000   3:07pm   More Cowbird - Bald Point, Florida   Noel Wamer    Fri, 25 Aug 2000   8:55am   QRY: Ringed Plover ..C. hiaticula.. in E Canada/US?   James H. Barton   Fri, 25 Aug 2000   2:37pm   Manx Shearwater in Michigan   Allen T Chartier    Fri, 25 Aug 2000   4:14pm   Ringed Plover ..C. hiaticula.. in E Canada/US   norman van swelm    Sat, 26 Aug 2000   1:58pm   Re: [BIRDBAND] MANX SHEARWATER   Allen T Chartier    Sat, 26 Aug 2000   3:35pm

To use email addresses replace '(AT)' with '@'. This is done to confuse the spam 'bots.

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Subject: Bahrain gull pics
From: Martin Reid <upupa(AT)AIRMAIL.NET>
Date: 20 Aug 2000 8:28am

Dear all,
I have completed placing my photos of imms at the Bahrain gull page - there
are one hundred individuals grouped in random order on six pages:
http://www.martinreid.com/bahinx.html
- any feedback would be appreciated (please tell me if you want the
comments to be private or anonymous) - I am especially keen to get comments
on the right-most bird of the four different adults - thank you.
Martin
Martin Reid
upupa(AT)airmail.net
http://www.martinreid.com  or  http://www.cyberramp.net/~upupa


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Subject: Re: Albatross: a conservative advocate
From: David James <dave-james(AT)BEYOND.NET.AU>
Date: 20 Aug 2000 7:28pm

Discussion of the Cordell albatross has been a bit brief, and there surely
must be much more to say about it. I'd like to add a cautionary note (which
means I probably won't help much!). I'm not really up on the group these
days (and would like to be corrected/updated), but I have seen lots of
adult and imm. cauta (1980's and early to mid 1990' s) and a handful of
adult ONLY bulleri, salvini and eremita, early to mid 1990's in SE Aust.,
NZ and the Southern Ocean. The Cordell bird is clearly not bulleri on
underwing pattern - enough said.

So, cauta, steadi, salvini or eremita? In the 1980s the odd immature birds
seen off Aust that resembled the Cordell bird were identified as salvini,
based on the presence of entirely dark primaries without a pale wedge
extending thru the bases of p9 to c. p6, and the extensively dark hood. I
saw maybe 4-5 of these but not one since about '91. Myself and some others
are no longer prepared to accept any of these as definite salvini, while
other observers evidently still identify them as such. Some observers have
reported that birds like the Cordell bird make up a small proportion of
immatures seen offshore of cauta colonies in Tasmania, suggesting that they
are POSSIBLY (even if unlikely) within the plumage range of cauta.

So, what's the hard evidence? We know the field marks of adults because
they return to the colonies, are easily photographed, and can be compared
to birds seen at sea, there's plenty of skins, etc., so the suites of
characters have long been known. For instance we know that adult cauta
always show a pale wedge intruding into the base of the primaries and adult
salvini and eremita never do. But does this hold up for immatures? Can
young cauta or young steadi show totally dark primaries? Can anyone answer
this one with evidence? Because of this gap, it's pretty difficult to
identify a young salvini in Aust. because you can't be sure you're not
looking at a dark cauta or maybe a steadi. Conversely, some observers in
Aust. apparently identify birds like the Cordell bird as steadi, but I
don't know their reasons. Just to confuse things more, there's plenty of
debate about whether steadi differs at all from cauta. Darkish shy
albatross seen and photographed off Chilli by Reid, Jaramillo etc. are
evidently darker than typical cauta in Aust., and what we know of their
movements support ID as salvini, but does this constitute sufficient
grounds to call them salvini? Alvaro referred to the "imm salvini" photo 70
in Harrison (reproduced in Enticott & Tipling p.33:4)., but is this photo
really a salvini? Why?

As far as I can tell, the only grounds for eliminating eremita from the
Cordell equation is the "not so dark head". How do we know that immature
eremita can't have a head pattern like this, even if it seems unlikely?
There is one fresh JUVENILE skin of eremita in Wellington (NMNZ) which i
think is the only one anywhere; from memory (1992/3) it has a very
extensive dark hood, little different from and adult but perhaps more
smoky/smudgy?; and a dark grey bill with black tip. There are a few photos
of adult eremita (Harrison 72,. Lindsey 1986 The Seabirds of Aust, P. 126;
and especially a fantastic underwing shot in Harper & Kinsky 1977, p.20) .
Even adults are difficult - the from s-e NSW, Aust. in Harrison pl. 71 and
Enitcott & Tippling 33:6 is labelled as eremita but why isn't it salvini?
Nevertheless, the Cordell bird is neither adult nor fresh juvenile. Maybe a
year old, or 2? What effect would wear/molt have on the head pattern of
eremita this age?

The axillary notch or "thumbprint" seems pretty small and atypical for
cauta, but what would the molt of 2-3 feathers do to the notch of any taxon
in the cauta complex. The extra smudging on the leading edge of the hand
and the shape of demarcation between back and rump (as pointed out by
others) look promising for sorting out the cauta complex, but it is
necessary to know the range that these characters can take in each of the
3-4 taxa before we can use them. Adult eremita and perhaps salvini might
have slightly broader leading edges to the arm than cauta does, but this is
pretty subtle, untested and who knows whether it is relevant to immatures?

I suppose I could be interpreted as saying "you can't identify anything
because maybe there's something we don't know (maybe there's some overlap
between cauta and salvini)". Hopefully there are some answers to some of
these issues that can dispel this position. Quite a few Aussies know more
about it than I do, but not everyone is prepared to rave about the
uncertain on the net. Thalasarche cauta ssp. seems safe; T. c. salvini is
still the lead contender for my money, but I don't see that this can be
proven on present knowledge. Hopefully, there's more information on these
beasts out there somewhere. Good luck!

David James
PO BOX 5225
Townsville Mail Centre,
Qld 4810, Australia
___________________________


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Subject: Caspian Tern photos from UK
From: Martin Birch <martinb(AT)ACTIONAID.ORG.UK>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 1:40am

nice pics of Caspian Tern by British rare bird photographer Iain Leach on
north-east coast of UK at the following url (http://www.surfbirds.com)


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Subject: The Sibley Guide to Birds
From: Beth and Will Russell <russell(AT)RTD.COM>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 7:01am

A copy of David Sibley's book  (The Sibley Guide to Birds)  arrived on
my porch late last week.  As one of the technical reviewers, I had seen
most of it in bits and pieces last summer but that dribble of black and
white xeroxes didn't prepare me for the enormity of the final work.

It's a tome, weighing more than two and one half pounds and measuring
9.75" x 6.5" x 1.5".  According to the publisher, the 544 pages contain
more than 6600 illustrations.  In some respects, this is an
idiosyncratic book and I suspect critics will find things that don't
meet their favor, but none of this should or will alter the fact that
North America now has a book where virtually every plate has images that
look like real birds in much of their natural variation.  The ID text is
brief but succinct.  These are plates to study; tiny features that can't
command limited text space nonetheless routinely appear in the
illustrations.

I'm not sure when this book will reach bookstores.  When it does, buy
two copies.  You'll wear one out...

Will Russell


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Subject: Re: The Sibley Guide to Birds
From: Bill Principe <ThePrincipes(AT)EARTHLINK.NET>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 7:23am

At 06:53 AM 8/22/2000 -0700, Will Russellwrote:
>A copy of David Sibley's book  (The Sibley Guide to Birds)  arrived on
>my porch late last week.  As one of the technical reviewers, I had seen
>most of it in bits and pieces last summer but that dribble of black and
>white xeroxes didn't prepare me for the enormity of the final work.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "enormity" as "Deviation from moral
or legal rectitude. Extreme or monstrous wickedness." I hope you didn't
mean that.


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Subject: Re: The Sibley Guide to Birds
From: Bob Abrams <Icepeep(AT)AOL.COM>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 7:49am

I am sure it is, as we say in Boston, wicked good.


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Subject: Sibley Guide to Birds
From: Jennifer Hanson <ammodramus(AT)HOTMAIL.COM>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 9:07am

Hello Frontiers,

I was under the impression that the Sibley guide volume of paintings was to
be accompanied by another volume with a detailed text and black and white
drawings.  Does anyone know if this is still the case?  The prepublication
comments about the Sibley guide that I've seen so far (on this forum and
UKBirdNet) have only described the volume with paintings and a "succinct"
(as Will Russell put it) text.

Many thanks,

Jennifer Hanson
Montclair, New Jersey USA
ammodramus(AT)hotmail.com

________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com


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Subject: AOUCLC on Green-winged Teals
From: Andrew Kratter <kratter(AT)FLMNH.UFL.EDU>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 9:42am

Frontiers-people

As a member of the AOU Committee on Classification and Nomenclature (the
Check-list Committee), I hope I can add some insight as to how I (and to
some degree most or all the committee) determine "convincing published
evidence."  As most of you know we tend to hold the status quo until such
evidence is published.  The current committee has  taken strides to avoid
hastily splitting or lumping taxa, so that the check-list can maintain some
stability amid the huge amount of new published data on taxonomy and
systematics (all this is spelled out in the prefaces of the 7th edition and
the 42nd supplement).  On to teals....

Johnson and Sorenson (Auk 116:792-805, 1999) certainly present good
evidence that crecca and carolinensis are separate species.  The sequence
divergence (5.8%) is certainly large for closely related taxa in North
America (but bird "species" in Amazonia may approach this level of
divergence), indicating that these two taxa have been evolving in genetic
isolation for quite some time.  However, there is no rule of thumb for  how
divergent two taxa have to be considered separate species, at least for
those who follow the biological species concept.  The point at which
reproductive isolation arises is arbitrary along the continuum of genetic
divergence.   Conceivably, species could be reproductively isolated on the
basis of a single base pair substitution, which would be almost
undetectable by today's methods of sequencing only very small parts of the
genome (result: two species in the BSC, maybe something like Anas
cyanoptera and discors , Blue-winged and Cinnamon teals).  On the other
hand, two populations may be genetically isolated for long periods and only
accumulate neutral substitutions that have no bearing on whether they are
reproductively isolated (one species in the BSC).  But with 5.8% sequence
divergence, there is definitely a strong chance that some of this
divergence will have bearing on reproductive isolation.

There is also a problem of having paraphyletic taxa, because A.
flavirostris (Speckled Teal of South America) and carolinensis are more
closely related than crecca and carolinensis.  However, I am not
uncomfortable with some paraphyly at the species level.  Such a situation
could arise when you have two genetically isolated populations (A & B) ,
which are not reproductively isolated (e.g., Carolina Chickadees).  Let's
say that one of these populations (A) gives rise to a new population (A1)
that becomes genetically and reproductively isolated from A (as fate would
have it by a single base pair substitution that changes molt schedule).
Meanwhile, A and B  still are having only neutral substitutions that have
no bearing on reproductive isolation.  A1 and A are thus sister taxa, but
using a BSC, A and B are still the same species.  Two paraphyletic species
have arisen.

To me, the evidence for lumping  crecca and carolinensis was probably
inadequate by today's standards, but that's the status quo.  Given the
arbitrary nature at which reproductive isolation arises in regards to the
continuum of sequence divergence, most of us in the committee would like to
see some new published information on frequency of hybridization, and other
characters that have bearing on reproductive isolation (molt schedules,
displays, timing of breeding, etc) from areas near  parapatry before we
make a decision.  Maybe we only have to revisit the old literature.  I am
sure that we shall deal with this by the next supplement, scheduled for
July, 2002.

Hope this helps,

Andy Kratter

Dr. Andrew Kratter, Collections Manager- Ornithology
Florida Museum of Natural History
PO Box 117800
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611 USA
Ph. (352) 392-3293
Fax (352) 846-0287
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/


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Subject: Grave
From: Campbell Colin MSM NECO US <colin.campbell(AT)CIBASC.COM>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 12:21pm

Can any of you romantic scholars help me out? On the gravestone of Alexander
Wilson in Philadelphia is the inscription:

INGENIO STAT SINE MORTE DECUS

Yes,yes, I know what the individual bits are - more of less - but what does
the whole mean? Please, no random guesses, I have enough of those.

Many thanks and lang may yer lums reek,

Colin


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Subject: Re: Grave
From: Bill Principe <ThePrincipes(AT)EARTHLINK.NET>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 1:49pm

At 09:22 PM 8/22/2000 +0200, you wrote:
>Can any of you romantic scholars help me out? On the gravestone of Alexander
>Wilson in Philadelphia is the inscription:
>
>INGENIO STAT SINE MORTE DECUS

   Given the sorry state of my high school Latin, I can only hope
   it means "To Nature goes the glory of persisting beyond death,"
   a reference to the fact that the natural world he studied went
   on, but poor Wilson was mortal. Ah, the enormity of it all!


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Subject: Re: Grave
From: Dave Rintoul <drintoul(AT)KSU.EDU>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 5:29pm

>
> Can any of you romantic scholars help me out? On the gravestone of Alexander
> Wilson in Philadelphia is the inscription:
>
> INGENIO STAT SINE MORTE DECUS
>
> Yes,yes, I know what the individual bits are - more of less - but what does
> the whole mean? Please, no random guesses, I have enough of those.

My high-school Latin faltered on this one, so I asked a real expert,
Bill Harris, emeritus professor of Classics at Middlebury College.
Here is his reply:

======
at non ingenio quaesitum nomen ab aevo
excidet: ingenio stat sine morte decus.

Horace is speaking of fame after death, a reputation that lives on.
 "..but a sought-after reputation does not disappear (if) with talent
(ingenium).

"With talent/genius the decoration/honor stands without death"

I have translated overly literally but OK since you sent the Latin I
guess.

"If you work with real ability and talent, your fame lasts FOREVER".

In Horace's case this is true,. but not of his compatriot Gallus from whom
we have just ONE line remaining. There is a two column study of Lost Latin
Literature, so Horace was OK for himself but not for the other guys.
=====

hope this helps

Dave

--
Dave Rintoul, Ph.D.                              mailto:drintoul(AT)ksu.edu
Biology Division - KSU                              ICBM: 39.18N, 96.34W
Manhattan KS 66506-4901                                VOX: 785-532-6663
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~drintoul/                 FAX: 785-532-6653

"When evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve." M. Decker (1999)


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Subject: Re: Grave
From: Chris Sloan <chris.sloan(AT)home.com>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 5:19pm

Wow, a question that I'm actually qualified to answer (I have a classics
degree).

Literally, it says "Distinction with respect to nature persists without
end."  What it means, I presume, is that Wilson's accomplishments in the
natural world will live forever.

I'll close by saying that this is WAY off-topic, and so any further
discussion should probably be conducted in private.

Chris Sloan
chris.sloan(AT)home.com
Nashville, TN

> -----Original Message-----
> From: NBHC ID-FRONTIERS Frontiers of Field Identification
> [mailto:BIRDWG01(AT)LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]On Behalf Of Campbell Colin MSM
> NECO US
> Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2000 2:22 PM
> To: BIRDWG01(AT)LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: [BIRDWG01] Grave
>
>
> Can any of you romantic scholars help me out? On the gravestone
> of Alexander
> Wilson in Philadelphia is the inscription:
>
> INGENIO STAT SINE MORTE DECUS
>
> Yes,yes, I know what the individual bits are - more of less -
> but what does
> the whole mean? Please, no random guesses, I have enough of those.
>
> Many thanks and lang may yer lums reek,
>
> Colin
>


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Subject: Mystery Grouse Photo
From: Ryan Shaw <BLKittiwake(AT)AOL.COM>
Date: 22 Aug 2000 9:00pm

Hey Ya'll
I thought I would pass along a photo of a mystery grouse, to get some outside
comments and opinions about this bird.

Photo taken by Charlie Wright of Sumner Washington.
at this web address

http://www.hometown.aol.com/birdking88/mystery1.html

Good Birding
Ryan Shaw
Olympia, WA
BLKittiwake(AT)aol.com


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Subject: Re: Grave
From: Peter and Carol Wilkinson <pcwilkinson(AT)CLARA.CO.UK>
Date: 23 Aug 2000 3:44am

>On the gravestone of Alexander Wilson in Philadelphia is the inscription:
>
>INGENIO STAT SINE MORTE DECUS

"By its nature deathless glory remains".

From the way it scans it sounds like a quote from proper Latin verse, but I
do not know from what (it is now 34 years since I last had to translate
English verse into Latin verse, in an exam!).

Peter Wilkinson
Wheathampstead, Herts, England
pcwilkinson(AT)clara.co.uk

PS. For those who are interested in how it is put together:
Ingenio = by its nature (ingenium means nature in the sense of character or
innate quality)
stat = stands (several senses, but here obviously meaning standing firm,
abiding, continuing)
sine morte = literally, without death, used poetically as an adjective,
deathless, qualifying decus, which means any thing that ornaments,
embellishes, adorns or honours. I chose glory for the translation above, but
one could choose honour, dignity, virtue or other similar expressions.


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Subject: Re: AOUCLC on Green-winged Teals
From: Dick Newell <Dick.Newell(AT)SMALLWORLD.CO.UK>
Date: 23 Aug 2000 8:45pm

Andrew Kratter wrote:
"There is also a problem of having paraphyletic taxa, because A.
flavirostris (Speckled Teal of South America) and carolinensis are more
closely related than crecca and carolinensis."

At the risk of demonstrating my ignorance, or even worse, being off-topic,
nay controversial, this is so counter-intuitive that does it not need
challenging? Whereas I am quite prepared to believe that when applied to the
genetic material in the mitochondrial DNA of these 3 forms, it is correct,
but it is not necessarily true about the forms themselves. It seems more
likely that one of the ancestors of Speckled Teal was a hybrid, and there
are a number of candidate forms in the southern hemisphere that could be
(descendants of) the other parent. Taxonomic classification seems to be in a
straightjacket because it would like to assume that everything evolved in a
neatly divergent way - but it often ain't like that - especially with ducks
(and gulls). If what I am saying is correct, then the fact that Speckled
Teal exists at all should have no bearing on what we can say about the
relationship between carolinensis and crecca. Now, how did Baikal Teal and
carolinensis both get that vertical bar? ......
Dick Newell


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Subject: Re: AOUCLC on Green-winged Teals
From: Dick Newell <Dick.Newell(AT)SMALLWORLD.CO.UK>
Date: 24 Aug 2000 2:16am

Further to my previous post, I should also have included the possibility
that carolinensis had a hybrid origin involving Speckled Teal. This would
then be a situation very similar to the relationship of Pomarine Skua/Jaeger
to the other skuas/jaegers (i.e morphologically closer to Parasitic and
Long-tailed, but mtDNA and parasites more similar to Great Skua) - which by
the way doesn't seem to me to be a good reason to merge them all into one
genus.
Dick Newell


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Subject: Interesting Cowbird - Bald Point, Florida
From: Noel Wamer <nwamer(AT)FCOL.COM>
Date: 24 Aug 2000 2:11pm

During the afternoon of August 21, 2000 Jack Dozier and I observed an
interestingly plumaged cowbird visiting the feeders at his home at Bald
Point, Franklin County, FL.  We both judged the bird to be a male Bronzed
Cowbird in molt between juv. and first basic plumage.  I took a few
passable shots with a digital camera through a telescope.  There are very
few records of this species in Florida in late-summer.  The closest
confirmed nesting record that I am aware of is from southern
Mississippi.  Does anyone know of summer records from Alabama?

The somewhat meager resources here at the home-office do not have an
illustration of this plumage, and I could find no images of this plumage on
the internet.  I have prepared a web page with pictures of this
cowbird.  There are two rather poor pictures that show size relative to
female Red-winged Blackbirds, and three better pictures of the cowbird,
with enlargements of head & bill, and both wing-tips.
http://www.badbirdz.com/jacksCowbird.htm

As always, comments are welcomed and complaints will be handled on
case-by-case basis.
Later...

Noel Wamer
nwamer(AT)fcol.com http://www.badbirdz.com
Jacksonville, FL, US   30.2820 -81.4972
"A strange bird may cause a slight unrest until it is named..."
                                                        (Walker Percy)


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Subject: Re: Interesting Cowbird - Bald Point, Florida
From: Florida Nature Tours <fnt(AT)GDI.NET>
Date: 24 Aug 2000 3:07pm

Noel Wamer wrote:
>
> During the afternoon of August 21, 2000 Jack Dozier and I observed an
> interestingly plumaged cowbird:

 Noel:

 Figs. 4 & 4a bare a striking resemblance to my old third grade
 teacher at PS 15 in Rochester, NY. Whacha think Judy D.?? I know
 that possession is 9 points of the law, but couldn't we call it
 Miss Benedict's Cowbird???

 Wes Biggs
 Florida Nature Tours, Orlando  407/363-1360  fnt(AT)gdi.net
 http://www.floridanaturetours.com   ABA sponsored


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Subject: More Cowbird - Bald Point, Florida
From: Noel Wamer <nwamer(AT)FCOL.COM>
Date: 25 Aug 2000 8:55am

Several comments about the pictures of Dozier's cowbird that I posted
yesterday question whether the bill is too big and stout for Bronzed.  I
have prepared a comparison of the line-drawing outline of the head and bill
of Bronzed from Pyle (1995) and the previous picture of the bill of
Dozier's cowbird.  The Pyle outline has been rotated to approximate the
head and bill angle in the picture.  To my eye it looks like a good
fit.  The comparison can be viewed at:
http://www.badbirdz.com/jacksCowbird2.htm

As always, comments are welcomed and complaints will be handled on
case-by-case basis.
Later...

Noel Wamer
nwamer(AT)fcol.com http://www.badbirdz.com
Jacksonville, FL, US   30.2820 -81.4972
"A strange bird may cause a slight unrest until it is named..."
                                                        (Walker Percy)


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Subject: QRY: Ringed Plover ..C. hiaticula.. in E
         Canada/US?
From: "James H. Barton" <redwing1986(AT)MEDIAONE.NET>
Date: 25 Aug 2000 2:37pm

        Friends, I'd appreciate being informed of sightings of Ringed Plover
..C. hiaticula.. in E. Canada and the U.S., whether or not submitted to
or approved by records committees.  Credible auditory/sight reports
conceivably may have been submitted, but not accepted because of the
bird's rarity.

        I've been told of a report from Massachusetts a few years ago, but I
don't know if the observer(s) ever prepared or submitted any
documentation.

        Thanks,

        Jim Barton
        redwing1986(AT)mediaone.net
        Cambridge, MA


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Subject: Manx Shearwater in Michigan
From: Allen T Chartier <amazilia(AT)JUNO.COM>
Date: 25 Aug 2000 4:14pm

Banders,

On August 19 a banded Manx Shearwater was discovered in the driveway of a
residence in Macomb County, Michigan by a 12 year old girl!  I'm
astounded that this family of non-birders (I presume) was able to track
down where this bird was banded via the internet.  The bird was
apparently banded in Ireland in 1991.  Not only is this a first record
for this species for Michigan, but as far as I've been able to determine,
is the first inland occurrence of the species in North America.  Even
stranger given that there are no weather systems that would have pointed
to this bird's presence here, similar to the Leach's Storm-Petrel that
showed up in Ontario about 3 weeks (?) ago!  The bird was brought to the
Detroit Zoo for care, but on August 24 it died, and is apparently
intended to be sent to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology -
Bird Division.  Thanks to Karl Overman, compiler of the Detroit Rare Bird
Alert for providing information on this bird.

Allen Chartier
1442 West River Park Drive
Inkster, MI  48141
Website:  http://www.amazilia.net
Email:  amazilia(AT)juno.com


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Subject: Ringed Plover ..C. hiaticula.. in E Canada/US
From: norman van swelm <Norman.vanswelm(AT)WXS.NL>
Date: 26 Aug 2000 1:58pm

James wrote: >        Friends, I'd appreciate being informed of sightings of
Ringed Plover
>..C. hiaticula.. in E. Canada and the U.S., whether or not submitted to
>or approved by records committees.  Credible auditory/sight reports
>conceivably may have been submitted, but not accepted because of the
>bird's rarity.
>
James' request reminded me of informing you on hiaticula behaviour in
Western Europe in particular for those of you who recorded Semipalmated
Plovers showing display outside the breeding areas.
But let me first tell you about the fate of the two chicks I banded at the
same time James had his alarming Ringed Plover at the Cape. They both grew
up well and I last saw them on Thursday. Since ten days they are attended by
one parent only, the male. The female has no doubt left to moult, probably
on the English south coast where many of our breeders have been trapped
during winter. The male in the mean time watches over the young from 20 to
40 meters distance. If a person or dog approaches he raises alarm and the
young lie still in between the boulders even though they are now able to
fly. I visit them at regular intervals and the last few days they lie side
by side with migrants which arrived during the night. These migrants are
young birds too (mostly of the race tundrae) and they do not associate with
the male.
It should be remembered that the Dutch birds belong to the race hiaticula,
the largest and rarest of the Ringed Plover races. Non-breeding birds as
seen displaying by some of you, do not occur in the breeding areas. We only
see breeding pairs and I don't know if non-breeders which remained in the
winter quarters along the English and the Atlantic coasts of France and
Iberia display there.
The only groups, sometimes very large ones, we encounter during spring and
late summer contain arctic birds belonging to the races tundrae (Russia) and
psammodroma from Ellesmere and Greenland, the latter is the race most likely
to be seen in the Eastern USA. Both these races make long journeys and
winter in the tropics. In spring many birds are paired already and may show
short outbreaks of display whereas in autumn groups the pairs have dissolved
and aggressive behaviour has more to do with establishing feeding
territories. So, the Ringed Plover behaviour seen by James at the Cape,
would, when seen here always be associated with plovers tending chicks.
Norman


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Subject: Re: [BIRDBAND] MANX SHEARWATER
From: Allen T Chartier <amazilia(AT)JUNO.COM>
Date: 26 Aug 2000 3:35pm

Banders & Birders,

I have been inundated with requests for more information on this
incredible record!  As the Autumn Season compiler for Michigan, I will be
pursuing all these details, and any that can be provided through this
forum are greatly appreciated.  I will ascertain the band number directly
from those who have the bird in their possession.  I also will have soon
the name of the girl that found the bird, in case those who banded the
bird wish to contact her directly for any reason.  One additional detail
I can provide at this time is that the bird was found in the town of
Armada, Michigan, which is in Macomb County in the southeastern side of
the state, near Lake St. Clair.  As noted in my posting, there seem to be
absolutely NO weather conditions that could have caused this bird's
vagrancy on this side of the Atlantic.  Anyone on the other side of the
pond have some insight on this?

Allen Chartier
1442 West River Park Drive
Inkster, MI  48141
Website:  http://www.amazilia.net
Email:  amazilia(AT)juno.com