ID-FRONTIERS for June 16-22, 2002

Messages are displayed in the order they were received.  Subject  From  Date   Time   Thick-billed Fox Sparrow   Steven Mlodinow    Sun, 16 Jun 2002   6:48pm   Fw: Presumed Elegant Tern in the Netherlands   Martin Reid    Mon, 17 Jun 2002   4:35am   Re: Fw: Presumed Elegant Tern in the Netherlands   Jerry Tangren    Mon, 17 Jun 2002   8:17am   Re: Fw: Presumed Elegant Tern in the Netherlands   Norman D.van Swelm   Mon, 17 Jun 2002   2:53pm   Bill Evans and Michael O'Brien's Flight Calls of Migratory Birds   will russell    Tue, 18 Jun 2002   9:16am   Elegant Terns: additional extramlimital reports   Bill Pranty    Wed, 19 Jun 2002   1:06am   Elegant Tern mysteries   Martin Reid    Wed, 19 Jun 2002   4:55am   Re: Elegant Tern mysteries   Ellen & Rik    Wed, 19 Jun 2002   12:16pm   Re: Gull with yellow legs in the Netherlands   Martin Collinson    Thu, 20 Jun 2002   5:03am   "yellow-billed" magpie   ian paulsen    Thu, 20 Jun 2002   10:43am   Variability in Cayenne Tern   Floyd Hayes    Thu, 20 Jun 2002   11:26am   Ibis hybrids in Oklahoma?   Dan Reinking    Thu, 20 Jun 2002   12:28pm   Re: Goose Identification - Summary   Angus Wilson    Thu, 20 Jun 2002   2:36pm   Quail sp.   Steve Mcconnell    Thu, 20 Jun 2002   7:16pm   Re: Gull with yellow legs in the Netherlands   B. Aarts   Fri, 21 Jun 2002   8:11am   Leg coloration of Least Tern   Floyd Hayes    Fri, 21 Jun 2002   10:47am   Re: Gull with yellow legs in the Netherlands   Dick Newell    Sat, 22 Jun 2002   12:05am

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Subject: Thick-billed Fox Sparrow
From: Steven Mlodinow <SGMlod(AT)AOL.COM>
Date: 16 Jun 2002 6:48pm

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Greetings

On 4 June, Bill Tweit (who is a very experienced and careful observer) heard
a California Towhee-like call note in the southern Washington Cascade
Mountains. He located a Fox Sparrow and took notes, and the description is
below.

Thick-billed Fox Sparrows, of the race fulva, nest into northern Oregon, I
believe, but have never been recorded in Washington. A couple questions
arise. How similar can fulva appear to schistacea in bill size and plumage?
Has anyone ever noted Slate-colored Fox Sparrows uttering these CA Towhee
like calls (which are typical of TB Fox Sparrows).

Thanks
SteveMlodinow

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------
Fox Sparrow ::: Yakima
            June 4, 2002 ::: 1 /Slate-colored /east end of Leech L.

As I was birding the east end of Leech Lake at 1730, I heard a repeated,
insistent call note that was unfamiliar coming from the willow shrubs near
the
lake edge.  It bore a strong resemblance to a California Towhee call note,
and so it caught my attention immediately.   I got two quick, but good looks
at
the calling bird as it hopped out of the willows and onto the dirt road, and
was
somewhat surprised that it  was a Slate-colored Fox Sparrow.  I noted
the following details from about 20m distance in good light through
Swarovski 7x42 SLC.

Face, crown, nape and back was a very plain gray.  Folded wings,
rump and tail were a dull rusty.  Light underparts had relatively fine,
sparse,
blackish streaking, that barely coalesced into a central breast
spot.  Streaking was particularly narrow and sparse along the flanks.  No
trace of brownish wash on either the flanks or the undertail coverts, flanks
did appear to be washed with gray.  I did not note bill color well, and while
the beak was prominent it did not appear to be much larger than "typical"
Fox.  Only vocalization was the call note, given repeatedly at times, almost
as if alarmed.  The bird was silent for a few minutes, then would call
repeatedly for a minute or so, then silent again.

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Subject: Fw: Presumed Elegant Tern in the Netherlands
From: Martin Reid <upupa(AT)AIRMAIL.NET>
Date: 17 Jun 2002 4:35am

Dear All,
Willem-Jan has responded as follows:
"
******************************************
Dear birders,
First, I take my hat off to Laurent for his detailed observations regarding
moult and age in the Dutch Elegant Tern-type bird. I would not be able to
accurately describe the moult pattern on the basis of the pictures
currently available, but then I am by no means an expert on moult and
gladly defer to people who are more knowledgeable on that subject. However,
Laurent's interesting analysis does raise some questions. If Laurent's
analysis of moult and age in the Dutch bird is correct and the Dutch bird
is an adult, how can the white spot ("noseband", as Julian puts it) and
white flecks in the summer cap (fore crown) be accounted for? The white
spot must then surely be an indication of the beginning of moult? This
stage of moult in Elegant Terns in California in early June would probably
be very rare, if it occurs at all, but I am sure American west coast
birders are in a better position to judge that. Furthermore, how could the
length, shape and colour of the bill in addition to length and shape of the
crest be accounted for, as these features in the Dutch bird do not seem to
be indicative of adult plumage either, perhaps not even if is a female-type
bird. I wonder whether such a bird in a breeding colony in California or
Mexico would not strike bird banders or researchers monitoring breeding
sites as extremely odd in early June. Analysis of moult patterns and aging
is obviously important when it comes to identification, but the following
caveats might not be misplaced:
- birds have proven themselves highly flexible when it comes to moult
strategies, even among individuals of the same species.
This might particularly be the case with vagrants.
- to the best of my knowledge, hardly anything is known about moult
strategies in adult hybrids
Picking up another thread, I recently reread Laurent's very interesting
article on "Recent North Atlantic records of Elegant Tern", posted on the
ID Frontiers website in February 2001. In this post Laurent describes the
range of Elegant Tern, habitat and migration habits, coastal records on the
Atlantic side of America and occurrences in Europe. This brings me to
Julian's comments on distribution.
<As for origin, it has always surprised me that Elegant Tern has apparently
shown up several times in Europe when there has been only one (I believe)
non-Florida East coast record! If, as hypothesized, they are rounding the
Cape in the Southern Hemisphere and returning north into the Northern
Atlantic region, why are there no increases in records along the
mid-Atlantic seabord. I've seen more Whiskered Terns in New Jersey than I
have Elegant Terns!!!>
Although it is, of course, highly speculative, I don't think we should
dismiss Vinicombe's theory of "reversed migration", as expounded in his
book "Rare Birds in Britain & Europe. A Photographic Guide" (1996), off
hand. By some stretch of the imagination the following scenario could come
to mind: less experienced immature (1st winter) Elegant Terns head too far
south, round the cape and end up on the "wrong" side of the South American
continent. They instinctively compensate for this by flying northwest in a
subsequent spring. Admittedly, all this is highly speculative and, as
pointed out by Laurent, there are not any confirmed records of Elegant Tern
further south than about Santiago in Chile, and there are not any confirmed
records of Elegant Tern available for the entire South American east coast
and the Caribbean either. Another argument against this theory could, of
course, be that, as Laurent points out, Elegant Tern is "not at all a
highly pelagic species" and will not "willingly" cross large bodies of open
water. In this respect Julian's observation that he has seen more Whiskered
Terns in Cape May than he has Elegant Terns is very interesting. Although
Elegant Terns and Whiskered Terns are, of course, not entirely comparable
in terms of migration patterns and location of breeding grounds, there is
at least one interesting similarity: like the Elegant Tern, the Whiskered
Tern is not considered to be a highly pelagic species either, but quite
amazingly made it all the way across the Atlantic to the east coast of
North America!
The one-million dollar question that remains to be anwered is, of course,
whether the Dutch orange-billed tern is a pure Elegant Tern, whether all
the "anomalies" in the pictures and observed in the field can be explained
satisfactorily, or whether we are looking at something else, possibly a
race of Cayenne Tern or a hybrid, possibly Lesser Crested Tern x Sandwich
Tern or Elegant Tern x Sandwich Tern. In a larger context, we could ask the
same question about all of Europe's presumed and accepted Elegant Terns.
The difference between other extreme records of American west coast species
turning up in Europe, such as Aleutian Tern and Ancient Murrelet, and
Elegant Terns is that the former represent just single individuals, but
that can no longer be said of the latter.
With the growing number of presumed and accepted Elegant Terns in Europe
and clear indications that more than just "two roaming individuals" are
involved in mind and taking into account the fact that, apart from one
record, there are no records for the entire American east coast to date we
will at some point in time have to come to terms with and satisfactorily
explain this discrepancy. It amazes me, even in the case of accepted
Elegant Terns in Europe, that Cayenne Tern is so easily dismissed as a
serious contender and that only hybrid Lesser Crested Tern x Sandwich Tern
and Elegant Tern x Sandwich Tern are apparently being considered as likely
candidates for confusion. Unless Olsen has it all wrong in his book "Terns:
an identification guide " (1994) his statements that more southerly forms
of the South American Cayenne Tern (Sterna sandvicensis eurygnatha) are
sometimes probably impossible to tell apart from Elegant Tern and can have
bills that match the bills of Elegant Terns in length deserve to be taken
seriously.
Luc Verroken's suggestion (on behalf of the Belgian Rarities Committee) to
remove Elegant Tern from the Western Palearctic list (Birding World 3:
418-419, 1990) was highly provocative at the time and elicited some angry
comments, but despite the fact that there are now several records of
accepted Elegant Terns in Europe the controversy pertaining to issues of
identification of extralimital Elegant Tern-type birds has not died down
and will continue to rage, among birders and in rarity committees, until
one day a large orange-billed tern turns up that unequivocally shows and
matches all the features of a "classic" Elegant Tern in California or
Mexico without any anomalies in plumage, moult, morphological features,
etc., and even then we will still have to account for its arrival in Europe.
Best regards,
Willem-Jan Hooijmans
Boschplein 209
2171 GT Sassenheim
The Netherlands
E-mail: wjhooijmans(AT)wanadoo.nl
**********************************************
"

Martin Reid
Fort Worth, Texas
upupa(AT)airmail.net
http://www.martinreid.com


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Subject: Re: Fw: Presumed Elegant Tern in the Netherlands
From: Jerry Tangren <tangren(AT)WSU.EDU>
Date: 17 Jun 2002 8:17am

Perhaps this has all been said before, but I wish
to repeat it.

Without a clear thought to the status of terns as a
whole, Elegant Terns stand out as different in that
their populations increased in numbers along the
west coast of North America in the second part of
the 20th century. They also tend to be more
irruptive, following food sources outside of
their normal range when condition require it.

If any bird's range is correlated with El Nino conditions.
this is the one. I would find it hard to believe
that only Oregon and Washington state are
blessed by these birds in El Nino years, and
that indeed they move in all directions. It's
not that far across central America to the Atlantic.
With a developing El Nino. Carribean and far South
American birders might particularly be on the lookout
his year.

As a birder of North America's Pacific Coast, I am
the least surprised by Elegant Terns turning up
in Europe than I would by any other species.

--Jerry <tangren(AT)wsu.edu>


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Subject: Re: Fw: Presumed Elegant Tern in the Netherlands
From: "Norman D.van Swelm" <Norman.vanswelm(AT)WXS.NL>
Date: 17 Jun 2002 2:53pm

With respect to the 2nd summer Elegant Tern seen in The Netherlands and the
uncertainties that surrounds it the feeding strategy of this bird may give
away it's true identity. The Dutch bird did not dive but instead picked fish
from the surface. I assume caught young Herring which reached the area at
the same time the tern showed up.
Norman


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Subject: Bill Evans and Michael O'Brien's Flight Calls of
         Migratory Birds
From: will russell <russellbw(AT)EARTHLINK.NET>
Date: 18 Jun 2002 9:16am

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

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Today's mail included a copy of Bill Evans and Michael O'Brien's =
long-awaited Flight Calls of Migratory Birds (Eastern North American =
Landbirds) CD-ROM.

As a kid, I liked nothing better than to sit outside on spring or fall =
nights and listen to the calls of migrant birds overhead.  It was (and =
is) one of the most thrilling birding experiences but at the time I =
could connect only a very few calls to specific species. Bill and =
Michael have painstakingly unraveled these avian auditory mysteries and =
presented them to us in what I'm sure they would modestly call =
work-in-progress. =20

But what progress!  Two hundred and eleven species are included.  A =
number like flycatchers and wrens have been determined to be essentially =
silent in flight but others such as thrushes, warblers and sparrows are =
richly vocal.  There are diurnal and nocturnal examples, where =
available, and sonograms which facilitate comparisons between very =
similar sounds.  There are extremely helpful collections of  these =
similar sounds, notably things that go "zeep", "buzz" and short, rising =
"seep", and it's possible to move quickly between similar sounds.  A =
careful text further explains sound differences and methodology. I've =
been listening to night sounds a long time and this CD clarified several =
outstanding questions in the first minutes of use. =20

I asked Michael how one gets a copy.  His response follows:

"There are (will be) two different versions of the flight call guide but =
the information on them is the same. The one currently available is an =
html version where the user navigates through the information on the =
CD-ROM with their internet browser (no internet connection is =
necessary). The other is a true CD-ROM where the user merely inserts the =
CD-ROM into their CD drive and an interactive menu appears. The latter =
is a bit more user friendly but works on more limited operating systems =
(Win98 and above; Mac OS 8.6 and
above) and does not allow access to the .wav files for those wishing to =
make their own spectrograms (access to the sound files is useful for =
researchers studying flight calls). The html version works on the widest =
range of operating systems. Any computer that has a CD drive and has a =
browser for viewing web sites on the internet should be able to access =
the information on this version. The user must follow instructions for =
accessing the interactive home page. We expect the true CD-ROM version =
to be available by August.=20

Currently, only the html version is available. Within the US, the guide
costs a total of $40 ($35 plus $5 shipping/handling). For international
orders and for other information, see the Old Bird web site
www.oldbird.org. To order, send a check or money order (made out to Old =
Bird) to: Old Bird, 605 W. State St., Ithaca, NY  14850."

WCR

PS:  A final comment: many computer speakers are not up to the task of =
reproducing adequately these high frequency, similar sounds.  I used =
headphones.

Will Russell
russellbw(AT)earthlink.net

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Subject: Elegant Terns: additional extramlimital reports
From: Bill Pranty <billpranty(AT)HOTMAIL.COM>
Date: 19 Jun 2002 1:06am

Dear ID-Frontiers,

With virtually no experience with the species, I will not weigh in with
comments on the identification of Elegant Terns inside or outside their
typical range. (However, the nesting adult in Florida photographed 24 May
2002 was just beginning to molt out its breeding plumage. White flecking can
be seen coming into the black forhead, although the remainder of the cap was
pure black).

The Fall 2001 seasonal issue of "North Amreican Birds" has been published
within the past month, and contains additional reports and discussion not
mentioned by others on this list. In his "Changing Seasons" report, Ned
Brinkley discusses Elegant Tern reports in a chapter called "Birds east: a
feast" (NAB 56: 17-18).

During fall 2001, several extralimital Elegant Terns were reported in the
United States.

Of two birds at East Beach, Texas (mentioned previously by others), Brinkley
thought one was more likely a "Cayenne" Tern than an Elegant.

In Florida, there were several observations at and near Fort De Soto Park,
of at least two birds,including one pursuing another carrying a fish while
begging loudly. (A male Elegant was observed copulating with a female
Sandwich Tern in Apr 2002). In Oct, a potential Elegant X Sandwich tern
hybrid was photographed 10 miles south of the park.

Also appearing was the Atlantic coast's second report, 5-7 Sep 2002, at
Chincoteague NWR, interestingly, the site of the sole previous Atlantic
coast report (for America) in 1985!

Additionally, Brinkley mentions that Elegant Terns are "recorded regularly
in the Caribbean off Costa Rica."

Given that most Elegant Terns winter in South America, and further
considering the narrowness of Panama (as well as the Panama Canal forming a
continuous water route through the country), perhaps Elegant Terns cross
over into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico  during spring migration more
than is currently realized. I can't account for fall seasonal reports,
unless these merely represent birds overlooked (within Sandwich Tern
colonies?) during spring and summer.

I wonder how much of the veritable "flood" of extralimital reports in the
past few years is the result of some genuine increase in vagrancy
(weather-related or otherwise) vs. increased detection (from either luck or
a growing awareness of possible occurrence, and therefore more thorough
searching of tern flocks).

Food for thought...

Best regards,

Bill Pranty
Audubon of Florida
410 Ware Boulevard, Suite 702
Tampa, Florida 33619
813-623-6826
billpranty(AT)hotmail.com

Florida IBA Program: <http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba/florida>

_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx


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Subject: Elegant Tern mysteries
From: Martin Reid <upupa(AT)AIRMAIL.NET>
Date: 19 Jun 2002 4:55am

Dear all,
  From Willem-Jan once more:
"
********************************************************************************

Dear birders,
Here are my responses to Jerry's and Norman's comments.
<If any bird's range is correlated with El Nino conditions. this is the
one. I would find it hard to believe that only Oregon and Washington state
are blessed by these birds in El Nino years, and that indeed they move in
all directions.>
The fact of the matter is, though, that more Elegant Terns seem to turn up
in Europe than along the entire American east coast. Even El Nino does not
explain that discrepancy.
<It's not that far across central America to the Atlantic.>
Perhaps not for other birds, but for a strictly coastal species like
Elegant Tern the Central American isthmus might still be a serious barrier.
How many records of "landlocked" Elegant Terns are there on the entire
North American continent? Only a handful, if I am not mistaken.
<With a developing El Nino. Carribean and far South American birders might
particularly be on the lookout his year.>
That sounds like a great suggestion.
<With respect to the 2nd summer Elegant Tern seen in The Netherlands and
the uncertainties that surrounds it the feeding strategy of this bird may
give away it's true identity. The Dutch bird did not dive but instead
picked fish from the surface. I assume caught young Herring which reached
the area at the same time the tern showed up.>
Although the age of the presumed Elegant Tern in the Netherlands is still a
matter of debate, the bird was most definitely seen to make 3 dives in the
fashion of a Sandwich Tern by the lucky and knowledgeable observer who saw
the bird fly by Noordwijk on the Dutch North Sea coast between The Hague
and Amsterdam early in the morning on 10 June.
I seem to have received some conflicting information on moult in Elegant
Terns in California. One report states that Elegant Terns have their black
caps when they return in March and don't begin losing them until late June,
whereas another report states that all the Elegant Terns that get to
Monterey Bay by early June have already lost their black forecrowns, and
that fully black-capped Elegant Terns are essentially only seen in the
nesting colonies in California.
By the way, is it only adult Elegant Terns that turn up in the breeding
colonies in southern California in March or are 1st summer or 2nd summer
birds also recorded along the Californian coast? One report that I have
states that one-year old birds remain in the winter range through their
first summer and therefore are never seen in California, as is the case
with the Least Tern.
Any comments?
Best regards,
Willem-Jan Hooijmans
Sassenheim, the Netherlands
********************************************************
"

Martin Reid
Fort Worth, Texas
upupa(AT)airmail.net
http://www.martinreid.com


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Subject: Re: Elegant Tern mysteries
From: Ellen & Rik <gagel(AT)WXS.NL>
Date: 19 Jun 2002 12:16pm

Dear All,

> <If any bird's range is correlated with El Nino conditions. this is the
> one. I would find it hard to believe that only Oregon and Washington state
> are blessed by these birds in El Nino years, and that indeed they move in
> all directions.>
> The fact of the matter is, though, that more Elegant Terns seem to turn up
> in Europe than along the entire American east coast. Even El Nino does not
> explain that discrepancy.

Given the extremely low number involved at both sides of the pond, you could
consider an observers influence: maybe there are just more birders around to
find the few birds in Europe than there are at the North-American east
coast, I don't know, but it is a possibility. It is a well known phenomenon
that the rarity of many birds is determined by the availability of birders
to find them and their identification skills, and not by the number of
birds.

> <It's not that far across central America to the Atlantic.>
> Perhaps not for other birds, but for a strictly coastal species like
> Elegant Tern the Central American isthmus might still be a
> serious barrier.
> How many records of "landlocked" Elegant Terns are there on the entire
> North American continent? Only a handful, if I am not mistaken.

I don't think this is a point that deserves much contemplation. Especially
not as you may not expect any reals answers to the question, just
speculation. Sofar birds have almost invariably beaten birders in
determining where and how far they could go.
An Elegant tern in the Netherlands still doesn't beat a Glaucous-winged Gull
in Morocco in terms of improbability of the location as far as I'm
concerned.

In my opinion, discussion should focus on the ID and identifiability of the
bird and any input of any birder familiar with the species is still very
welcome.

kind regards,
Rik Winters
the Netherlands (no, I did not see the bird...)


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Subject: Re: Gull with yellow legs in the Netherlands
From: Martin Collinson <docmartin2mc(AT)HOTMAIL.COM>
Date: 20 Jun 2002 5:03am

>Laurent Raty <l_raty(AT)HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>
>Hi Dick and all,
>Re:
>http://www.maik.rssi.ru/cgi-bin/search.pl?type=abstract&name=zooeng&number=1
>&year=99&page=129
>
>Do you have more info about this study?

I have an English translation (of sorts) of this paper - text only.  If
anyone wants a look for the purposes of research, they should get in touch
with me.

ATB
Martin

_________________________________________________________________
Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
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Subject: "yellow-billed" magpie
From: ian paulsen <ipaulsen(AT)KRL.ORG>
Date: 20 Jun 2002 10:43am

HI ALL:
 Recently in eastern WA, a "yellow-billed" magpie has been reported. Most
people believe it is a black-billed magpie with a yellow bill, NOT a true
yellow-billed magpie from CA. Does anyone know if black-billed magpies can
have yellow bills?

Ian Paulsen
Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
ipaulsen(AT)krl.org
A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
"Rallidae all the way"


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Subject: Variability in Cayenne Tern
From: Floyd Hayes <floyd_hayes(AT)HOTMAIL.COM>
Date: 20 Jun 2002 11:26am

This message is intended primarily for Willem-Jan Hooijmans, who has written
to me with questions about Cayenne Tern and literature references, but
thinking it might be useful to others I decided to copy it to ID Frontiers.

With regard to bill coloration of "Cayenne" Tern and its potential
hybridization with Elegant Tern in the Caribbean, here are a few quotes from
the literature, one of which I alluded to in my earlier message:

On p. 5 of Shealer, D. 1999. Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis). Birds of
North America 405:1-27: "Potential hybridization between Elegant and Cayenne
terns at Curacao (Ansingh et al. 1960), Aruba (van Halewyn 1985, 1987), and
Netherlands Antilles, suggested on basis of bill color. (On Aruba, large
numbers of Cayennes observed with red/orange bills, one bright red with
yellow tip, making it indistinguishable from Elegant Tern except for body
size, which is smaller than Elegant [van Halewyn 1985, 1987])." The
references for these citations (which I lack, but would like to acquire)
are:

Ansingh, F. H., J. J. Koelers, P. A. van der Werf, and K. H. Voous. 1960.
The breeding of the Cayenne or Yellow-billed Sandwich Tern in Curacao in
1958. Ardea 48:51-65.

van Halewyn, R. 1985. Conservation programme for Cayenne Tern Sterna
sandvicensis eurygnatha breeding on reef islets, Aruba, Netherlands
Antilles. Report on 1984 survey of marine birds of Aruba, Netherlands
Antilles. Part 1, Int. Counc. Bird Preserv.--endorsed project 25. Res. Inst.
Nature Manage., Arnhem, Netherlands.

van Halewyn, R. 1987. Conservation programme for Cayenne Tern Sterna
sandvicensis eurygnatha breeding on reef islets, Aruba, Netherlands
Antilles. Marine birds of Aruba: Report on 1985 survey and conservation
campaign. Second year, Int. Counc. Bird Preserv.--endorsed project 25. Res.
Inst. Nature Manage., Arnhem, Netherlands.

Shealer's comments echo those on p. 397 of Buckley, P. A., and F. G.
Buckley. 1984. Cayenne Tern new to North America, with comments on its
relationship to Sandwich Tern. Auk 101:396-398: "We offer one caution, in
passing, to all workers: a small percentage of Cayenne Terns in the southern
Caribbean and in Argentina (elsewhere?) have clear orange (or even "red")
bills remarkably similar in color and shape to elegans--yet another facet of
a complex taxonomic problem."

With regard to the white forehead on the Netherlands tern, I note in the
text for Sandwich/Cayenne Tern on p. 126 of Voous, K. H. 1983. Birds of the
Netherlands Antilles. 2nd ed. Foundation for Scientific Research in Surinam
and the Netherlands, Utrecht: "Large proportion of birds in breeding
colonies have white forehead of variable extent."

Here are some comparative measurements (mean, range in mm) of Cayenne and
Sandwich Terns summarized by Shealer:

Sandwich Tern bill length:
   52.8, 47-57.5 in North America
   54.1, 51.8-56.4 for males in Texas
   50.5, 47.5-53.6 for females in Texas
   51.9, 44.7-55.4 in Puerto Rico
   55.5, 51.0-64.2 for males northwestern Europe
   53.1, 48.1-57.2 for females in northwestern Europe
Cayenne Tern bill length:
   54.0, 49-58 in southern Caribbean
   58.9, 54.3-63.9 in Uruguay
   58.7, 53.5-62.0 in Argentina
Sandwich Tern wing length:
   294.7, 280-311 in North America
   288.5, 270-302 for males in Texas
   281.7, 273-289 for females in Texas
   295.7, 278-307 in Puerto Rico
   308.0, 290-325 for males northwestern Europe
   304.0, 283-320 for females in northwestern Europe
Cayenne Tern wing length:
   289.8, 283-303 in southern Caribbean
   309.8, 306-316 in Uruguay
   314.1, 304-321 in Argentina

A reference I lack that surely would be useful is: Voous, K. H. 1968.
Geographical variation in Cayenne Terns. Ardea 56:184-187. Judging from
these measurements it looks like Cayenne Terns from the Caribbean would be
similar in bill length and body size to North American and European Sandwich
Terns. However, Cayenne Terns from southern South America would probably
appear distinctly longer billed and larger than Sandwich Terns (as does the
Netherlands tern). Shealer does not state whether Cayenne Terns in southern
South America migrate northward during winter, but if they do (I'd be
surprised if they don't) a few could stray as far as North America or Europe
(Sandwich Terns stray as far south as Argentina).

My guess is that orange- to red-billed terns in the Dutch West Indies are
Cayenne Terns rather than hybrid Elegant X Cayenne Terns since van Halewyn
clearly distinguished them from Elegant Terns on the basis of body size.
Perhaps this would explain sigthings of Elegant Terns on the Caribbean side
of Costa Rica. I was interested in learning about recent sightings of
Elegant Tern in Trinidad; no reports  have ever been submitted to the
Trinidad and Tobago Rare Bird Committee. I checked out a report of four
suspected Elegant Terns in Trinidad in 1995 but they were clearly Cayenne.
Obviously an orange- or red-billed Cayenne Tern must be eliminated as a
potential candidate for any acceptable extralimital record of Elegant Tern.
I'm not sure Cayenne Tern can be eliminated in the case of the Netherlands
tern.

Floyd E. Hayes
Lecturer in Zoology
**********************************************************
Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies
St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
Tel: 868-645-3233 x2206; Fax: 868-663-5241
Website: http://www.geocities.com/floyd_hayes
**********************************************************

_________________________________________________________________
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Subject: Ibis hybrids in Oklahoma?
From: Dan Reinking <DLReinking(AT)AOL.COM>
Date: 20 Jun 2002 12:28pm

----INCLUDING text/plain MIME SECTION----

Plegadis ibis potentially showing White-faced/Glossy hybridization
characteristics were recently photographed in Oklahoma by James Arterburn.
These photos, along with some comments, are posted on the Oklahoma Bird
Records Committee web site at <A
HREF="http://www.okbirds.org/ibis_ID.html">http://www.okbirds.org/ibis_ID.html</A>

Comments on the photos would be appreciated, either on this list and/or
directly to Jim (who is not on this list) at j.w.arterburn(AT)worldnet.att.net

For Jim Arterburn,

Dan Reinking
Sutton Avian Research Center

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Subject: Re: Goose Identification - Summary
From: Angus Wilson <wilsoa02(AT)ENDEAVOR.MED.NYU.EDU>
Date: 20 Jun 2002 2:36pm

I have summarized comments received in response to my post to ID-Frontiers
regarding the identity of a 'white goose' photographed at Jamaica Bay, Wildlife
Refuge in New York City.

http://www.oceanwanderers.com/LeucCanGo.hmtl

There seemed to be unanimous agreement in favor of a domesticated goose,
although
with no clear consensus on the type of 'farm goose' involved. Most farm geese
strike me as bulkier but perhaps the Jamaica Bay bird just needs some feeding!

The argument against an aberrantly colored Canada Goose based on the bird's
soft
part coloration (orange not pink or black as might be expected) seemed
especially
persuasive to me.

I highly recommend Harry Lehto's collection of odd-plumaged bird photos which
are
fascinating and I suspect, unique.

Here are the slightly edited comments:

================================

"This bird has the head and body shape as well as the neck feather pattern of
the
Toulouse Goose, a domestic variety that I raised as kid until I went to
college.
I would doubt that there is any Canada Goose genes is this individual at all.
It
is likely whiter as it is the
result of a cross between some other white domestic goose and a Toulouse.
These
crosses are quite common. In fact I had an African
Goose/Toulouse Goose cross that looked a lot like this bird except that it had
a
large bulb at the top of the beak."
Jeff Holbrook, New York USA

"I agree with Jeffrey as I have seen leucistic Canada Goose on the west coast
and
they look exactly like a normal Canada Goose, except they
are a very light beige tone. Quite attractive actually. I have also seen Snow
Goose  x Canada Goose and they tend to be very easy to ID, with
the body being mainly Canada and the Neck/Head of the Snow. The bill tends to
be
very Canada Goose shaped, with a dark colour."
Michael Beck, Vancouver Canada

"Looks like a hybrid Canada x Domestic Goose/Albino Greylag Goose. Forsome
canadax (normally colored) Greylag geese have a look at my
web page http://www.astro.utu.fi/hlehto/photo/hybrid. Note that the bill
patterns
in some of these hybrids is similar to your bird. You bird
has strong oranges in the bill and the feet. I would expect them to pink in
albino Canadians
(as in albino Mute swans -- see
http://www.astro.utu.fi/hlehto/photo/color/cygolo.shtml)"
Harry Lehto, Finland

"I agree with Jeffrey Holbrook; domestic. A leucisticCanada would still have
black legs: an albino would have paler legs but not this bright
orange. The wing/tail relationship also looks rather different from the
accompanying Canadas."
Peter Wilkinson, Wheathampstead England

"We used to get a handful of geese like your pale one on Cayuga Lake, and we
IDed
them as "barnyard" geese (the head and bill being
unscientifically "decisive" as it were); we also saw birds that were
essentially
cream or white Canadas; on the dilute-plumaged (leucistic)
birds, there would typically be a hint of a white face patch."
Ned Brinkley, Virginia USA

"I do not think it is [a leucistic Canada]....my first and gut reaction was
that
because of the bill, the neck feathers, it just strikes me as not a
Canada. Can't be more specific."
Ann MacDonald, West Vancouver Canada

I think Julian Hough also commented on the degree of ruffling on the neck
feathers but I have missplaced his original e-mail. Canada Goose has
some of this patterning (as do most geese) which is hard to see on the black
plumage but I agree the question bird seems extreme.

The goose was still present last weekend (16 June 2002) and I was amused to
overheared a volunteer ranger discussing the "immature snow goose" with some
visitors, humm!?

Many thanks to those who took the time to reply to my query. Now back to those
pesky elegant terns...............

Cheers, Angus Wilson
New York City
http://www.oceanwanderers.com

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[ << | >> | ^^ ]

Subject: Quail sp.
From: Steve Mcconnell <Swmavocet(AT)AOL.COM>
Date: 20 Jun 2002 7:16pm

I would be very interested to hear opinions from the group on what type of
bobwhite  the pictures at the link below show.  The lady who forwarded these
to me describes the bird as having dark spots but no "light speckles on its
back."  There was also "no white on its face or head, just a little white
streak on its throat."  In flight she said it had "dark gray" wings.

http://members.aol.com/swmavocet/quail_sp.jpg

Is this a 'masked' Northern Bobwhite?  The black on face and head appears to
exclude the 'rufous' form shown in Sibley but my experience is nil with these
two forms of bobwhite.

If this is a 'masked' how might it come to be in northern Alabama?  Is there
a certain fraction of 'masked' in the wild population even outside of the
southwest?  We certainly have enough bobwhite releases in the area for
hunting so that might be another explanation.

All opinions and thoughts welcome.   Thank you.

Bird well,

Steve McConnell
Trussville, AL


[ << | >> | ^^ ]

Subject: Re: Gull with yellow legs in the Netherlands
From: "B. Aarts" <baarts(AT)SCI.KUN.NL>
Date: 21 Jun 2002 8:11am

Hi Pierre-Andre and all,

I totally agree with you that this gull is not a cachinnans but a
yellow-legged Herring Gull. Birds like these are a pitfall for the
less-experienced gull-watcher, which was the point I was trying to make.

Argentatus Herring Gulls from the Baltic region are quite different from
those from northern Scandinavia (with which observers in NW-Europe are more
familiar), in that they often have yellow legs, more black in the primaries
(often reaching p5, sometimes even p4), p10 with a long white primary tip
and a long pale tongue on the inner web, and a lighter grey mantle. And
from Mierauskas et al. (1991): a longer bill, longer wing, longer tarsus
and middle toe.
Their features are thus more or less 'intermediate' compared to northern
argentatus on the one hand, and cachinnans on the other hand (which is also
stated by Panov & Monzikov in
<http://www.maik.rssi.ru/cgi-bin/search.pl?type=abstract&name=zooeng&number=1&year=99&page=129>;).

A hybrid Baltic-argentatus x cachinnans would probably differ only subtly
from both its parents. You can test this yourself, see what you think of
the gulls on the website of the Polish gull-ringers: ...
http://www.czaplon.most.org.pl/a/amewy.htm
(Gulls from Upper Vistula valley)
(For comparison: http://www.czaplon.most.org.pl/a/amewykazik.htm (Wintering
gulls in Cracow)).

More pictures of yellow-legged Baltic Herring Gulls (and/or 'omissus') are
at the websites of:
   Surfbirds:
http://www.surfbirds.com/Rarities/ukstoppress-mar12-2002.html
   Mars Muusse: (http://www.birdsnaps.com/)
http://www.birdsnaps.com/hg/hg5cy/yellowlegs.htm
http://www.geocities.com/birdsnaps4/8640.htm
   Rudy Offereins: (http://www.xs4all.nl/~calidris/gullindex.htm)
http://www.xs4all.nl/~calidris/omissus.htm
http://www.xs4all.nl/~calidris/ylhgu.htm

Regards,
Bram Aarts


[ << | >> | ^^ ]

Subject: Leg coloration of Least Tern
From: Floyd Hayes <floyd_hayes(AT)HOTMAIL.COM>
Date: 21 Jun 2002 10:47am

How frequently do Least Terns have yellowish legs, and if indeed they do at
which age and in which plumage? The standard field guides in my possession
(I lack the tern guides) all illustrate or describe Least Tern with
yellowish legs. However, I note in the Birds of North America account (B. C.
Thompson et al., No. 290, 1997) the following description on p. 22: "Legs
and feet. Reddish orange in adults during breeding season; blackish orange
or dull black remainder of year. Legs of juveniles black to pink, grayish
orange, or pale-spotted (Massey and Atwood 1978)." No mention of yellow! The
reference cited (which I lack but would like to acquire) is: Massey, B. W.,
and J. L. Atwood. 1978. Plumages of the Least Tern. Bird-Banding 49:360-371.

-Floyd

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[ << | >> | ^^ ]

Subject: Re: Gull with yellow legs in the Netherlands
From: Dick Newell <dick.newell(AT)MACUNLIMITED.NET>
Date: 22 Jun 2002 12:05am

It is a shame that in Europe, we seem to put the blinkers on when we get
confusing gulls that show features of more than one taxon. The Americans
have names for theirs: Nelson Gull (smith x Glaucous), Olympic Gull (Western
x Glaucous-winged) and Kumlien's Gull (Iceland x Thayer's), [and even
Lawrences Warbler (Blue-wing x Golden-wing)]. Because we don't have names we
insist on trying to pigeon-hole things into pure species boxes or throw up
our hands in disgust if that seems too hard. I don't think that it is good
enough to dismiss these interesting birds like this. If what we observe in
some individuals matches what we know is going on in the field then why do
we not (probabilistically maybe) assign these individuals to a mixed taxon?

If we get a Herring Gull-like bird in the UK with yellow legs, do we know
enough to say whether it is argenteus that has been eating too much
shellfish, omissus (~ argentatus with some gene that produces yellow legs on
occasion) or a mixed bird (of mich, cach, argy) from the south-east Baltic
or Poland? For some birds, you can make a good stab at which of the three it
is. It is a similar story with Herring Gull-like birds from Iceland or
Finnmark which look as though Glaucous got involved, and Holland is
producing a fair number of mich x graellsii hybrids, not to mention birds
that turn up on occasion where a Herring x Lesser Black-backed diagnosis
would fit.
It's not just the west coast of North America where a lot of this sort of
thing goes on.
Dick Newell, Cambridge, England