ID-FRONTIERS for June 23-30, 2002

Messages are displayed in the order they were received.  Subject  From  Date   Time   Re: "yellow-billed" magpie   Janzen, Tim   Sun, 23 Jun 2002   11:41pm   Kelp Gull in South Africa   Floyd Hayes    Mon, 24 Jun 2002   1:00pm   White-tailed Tropicbird question   James F. Flynn, Jr.   Tue, 25 Jun 2002   8:26pm   Re: White-tailed Tropicbird question   Ned Brinkley    Wed, 26 Jun 2002   5:18am   Re: White-tailed Tropicbird question   Louis Bevier    Wed, 26 Jun 2002   9:18am   White-tld Tropicbird thanks + correction   James F. Flynn, Jr.   Wed, 26 Jun 2002   7:06pm   Re: White-tailed Tropicbird question   Ned Brinkley    Thu, 27 Jun 2002   4:33am   Cayenne Terns: an elegant solution?   Martin Reid    Thu, 27 Jun 2002   6:56am   Re: White-tld Tropicbird   Eran Tomer    Thu, 27 Jun 2002   11:04am   Tropicbird tales   Ned Brinkley    Thu, 27 Jun 2002   2:22pm   a not so elegant theory, after all ....   Martin Reid    Fri, 28 Jun 2002   6:46am   [TEXBIRDS] Little-like Egret photos (fwd)   ian paulsen    Sun, 30 Jun 2002   5:41pm   Little-like Egret photos   Angus Wilson    Sun, 30 Jun 2002   7:49pm

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Subject: Re: "yellow-billed" magpie
From: "Janzen, Tim" <janzen(AT)pacinter.net>
Date: 23 Jun 2002 11:41pm

Dear Ian,
        I have seen a lot of Black-billed Magpies in Oregon and none have shown
any
suggestion of yellow on the bill.  About 7 years ago a Yellow-billed Magpie
was reported near Sandy, just east of Portland.  It turned out that the bird
was an escapee and the bird was returned to its owner shortly after I saw
it.  There are no Oregon records of Yellow-billed Magpie and the species
doesn't seem to show a tendency for vagrancy outside the Central Valley of
California so if one has turned up in Washington it would highly likely to
be an escapee.
Sincerely,
Tim Janzen,
Portland, Oregon

-----Original Message-----
From: NBHC ID-FRONTIERS Frontiers of Field Identification
[mailto:BIRDWG01(AT)listserv.arizona.edu]On Behalf Of ian paulsen
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 10:44 AM
To: BIRDWG01(AT)listserv.arizona.edu
Subject: [BIRDWG01] "yellow-billed" magpie

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: Kelp Gull in South Africa
From: Floyd Hayes <floyd_hayes(AT)HOTMAIL.COM>
Date: 24 Jun 2002 1:00pm

The message below (sent through Megabirds) should be of interest to ID
Frontiers. Incidentally, a Kelp Gull in Barbados
(http://www.geocities.com/secaribbirds/bakelpgull) was thought to be of the
African race (species?) vetula.

-Floyd

To: "Peter Ryan" <peter(AT)birding-africa.com>
From: "Callan Cohen" <callan(AT)birding-africa.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 15:28:43 +0200
Subject: [megabirds] Calling gull experts

Hi all,

Given the wide southern Hemisphere distribution of the Kelp Gull and its
occurrence as a vagrant in Europe and the US, there is an increasing
interest in the ID and taxonomy of the bird. Although some excellent
articles have been written recently on the subject, there is still a lack of
clarity on some of the features used to identify the subspecies. In
particular, there is a growing consensus that "Cape Gull", Larus
[dominicana] vetula is a distinct species endemic to southern Africa.

This would make the nominate Kelp Gull a vagrant to southern with few, if
any, documented records. There has been some debate about a bird that is
currently present near Cape Town, and Michael Mills has submitted a fully
illustrated discussion of the bird with at http://www.birding-africa.com
(under FieldGuide Frontiers).

In particular, we are most interested in coming into contact with birders
who have experience of the species, and we would welcome any feedback on
this particular bird - which has even been suggested to be a Lesser
Black-backed Gull.

We've also added an illustrated trip report by Peter Ryan of a recent Cape
pelagic trip at http://www.capetownpelagics.com , complete with pictures of
Slender-billed Prion, Black-bellied Storm Petrel and an mystery skua.

With best wishes,
Callan
________________________________________________________________________
Callan Cohen                   Percy FitzPatrick Institute
callan(AT)birding-africa.com        of African Ornithology,
Tel: +27 21 683 1898             University of Cape Town,
Mobile: +27 83 256 0491               South Africa.
Fitz: +27 21 650 4297
Fax: +27 21 671 2990

For African birding & travel information, guiding & pelagic trips, visit:
BIRDING AFRICA www.birding-africa.com
CAPE TOWN PELAGICS www.capetownpelagics.com
Email: info(AT)birding-africa.com

_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com


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Subject: White-tailed Tropicbird question
From: "James F. Flynn, Jr." <jim.flynn(AT)MINDSPRING.COM>
Date: 25 Jun 2002 8:26pm

A handful of birders from Georgia and Florida were fortunate enough to
be run into by an adult White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) off
of Sapelo I., GA, on Monday 24 June 2002 during a pelagic trip.  Since
it was an adult, and because it practically mauled us, the i.d. of the
bird was not a problem.  However, this bird had golden-colored tail
streamers, while the rest of the bird was white.  While the Christmas I.
form (ssp. P. l. fulvus), which has been recorded off the coast of North
Carolina, has a golden hue over the entire body and tail, I am unable to
find a reference that addresses the white body/golden tail plumage
combination.  One of the photos of White-tailed Tropicbird in Kenn
Kaufman's _Birds of North America_ (p. 67) does show a bird similar to
that of the one observed Monday.  Perhaps the golden wash of P. l.
fulvus is occasionally very subtle or absent?  Any insight, whether
public or private, would be greatly appreciated.

Photos of this bird may be observed at the following URL:
http://www.gos.org/sightings/wttr.html

Take care.
--
Jim Flynn
Forsyth Co., GA
jim.flynn(AT)mindspring.com
*******************************
Georgia Ornithological Society:
http://www.gos.org/index.html
*******************************


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Subject: Re: White-tailed Tropicbird question
From: Ned Brinkley <Phoebetria(AT)AOL.COM>
Date: 26 Jun 2002 5:18am

On the question of the color of White-tailed Tropicbird's central rectrices:

On the adults we see off North Carolina, all birds seen well have a golden,
faint yellowish, peach, or orange-peach cast to the these feathers.  This is
consistent with the subspecies _catesbyi_, whose nearest breeding station is
the Bermudas.

Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, Virginia, USA


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Subject: Re: White-tailed Tropicbird question
From: Louis Bevier <lrbevier(AT)COLBY.EDU>
Date: 26 Jun 2002 9:18am

The golden color of Phaethon lepturus fulvus (breeds Christmas I.,
Indian Ocean) is described as rich, golden apricot (quite intense, I
think, not subtle). In this population, however, about 7% of birds
are white, and golden-colored birds of varying intensity are known
from nearly throughout the range of the species, suggesting this
might only be a color morph predominating and most intense in the
fulvus populations. The race P. l. fulvus is not known from North
America.

So far as known, only 2 subspecies of White-tailed Tropicbird have
occurred in North America:

P. l. catesbyi (breeds Bermuda and Caribbean and is the race
encountered in the Gulf of Mexico and off the se. U.S.).

P. l. dorotheae (Tropical Pacific breeder accidental to California
and Arizona with at least 3 records: s. CA 24 May-23 Jun 1964,
300-500 miles off s. CA Dec 1989, and c. AZ 22 Aug 1980).

Louis Bevier
Fairfield, Maine


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Subject: White-tld Tropicbird thanks + correction
From: "James F. Flynn, Jr." <jim.flynn(AT)MINDSPRING.COM>
Date: 26 Jun 2002 7:06pm

First I would like to thank several of the folks who responded to my
request, both privately and publicly.

Second, I would like to correct the location of the bird.  I originally
stated that it was observed off of Sapelo I., but  it was actually off
of St. Catherines.  Sorry for the  misinformation.

Take care.

"James F. Flynn, Jr." wrote:
>
> A handful of birders from Georgia and Florida were fortunate enough to
> be run into by an adult White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) off
> of Sapelo I., GA, on Monday 24 June 2002 during a pelagic trip.  Since
> it was an adult, and because it practically mauled us, the i.d. of the
> bird was not a problem.  However, this bird had golden-colored tail
> streamers, while the rest of the bird was white.  While the Christmas I.
> form (ssp. P. l. fulvus), which has been recorded off the coast of North
> Carolina, has a golden hue over the entire body and tail, I am unable to
> find a reference that addresses the white body/golden tail plumage
> combination.  One of the photos of White-tailed Tropicbird in Kenn
> Kaufman's _Birds of North America_ (p. 67) does show a bird similar to
> that of the one observed Monday.  Perhaps the golden wash of P. l.
> fulvus is occasionally very subtle or absent?  Any insight, whether
> public or private, would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Photos of this bird may be observed at the following URL:
> http://www.gos.org/sightings/wttr.html
>
> Take care.
> --
> Jim Flynn
> Forsyth Co., GA
> jim.flynn(AT)mindspring.com
> *******************************
> Georgia Ornithological Society:
> http://www.gos.org/index.html
> *******************************

--
Jim Flynn
Forsyth Co., GA
jim.flynn(AT)mindspring.com
*******************************
Georgia Ornithological Society:
http://www.gos.org/index.html
*******************************


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Subject: Re: White-tailed Tropicbird question
From: Ned Brinkley <Phoebetria(AT)AOL.COM>
Date: 27 Jun 2002 4:33am

On Louis Bevier's post on subspecies of White-tailed Tropicbird in North
American waters, a bit of added speculation (I think I posted this to this
listserv about 4 years ago, so apologies if redundant) --

Tail pigmentation is misleading in most field guides: all White-tailed
Tropicbirds off the North Carolina coast, when studied closely, show tails
tinged distinctly with golden, salmon, pink, or orange.  Sometimes this color
can be quite pronounced, probably in adults in breeding condition.

On 25 September 1994 off Hatteras, North Carolina, birders studied an adult
White-tailed Tropicbird whose entire plumage was strongly tinged golden.  It
is presumed that the only subspecies of White-tailed Tropicbird in the
western North Atlantic Ocean is the one nesting at Bermuda and in the
Caribbean, Phaethon lepturus catesbyi.  Golden-morph White-tailed Tropicbirds
occur in the Indian Ocean, in the subspecies designated P. l. fulvus,
formerly known as the “Golden Bosunbird” or “Christmas Island
Tropicbird.”
In the case of the North Carolina record, one would suspect an aberration in
plumage rather than a stray golden morph of the Indian Ocean form.  It is
interesting that Bermudian ornithologists, who have studied thousands of
individual White-tailed Tropicbirds over the past 50 years, have not noted
such a plumage in P. l. catesbyi.  The more likely possibility would seem to
be a bird of Southern Atlantic origin.  White-tailed Tropicbirds breeding at
Fernando de Noronha, Ascension Island, and on islands in the Gulf of Guinea,
Africa, are designated P. l. ascensionensis by some authorities, and some
observers have reported golden-plumaged birds in and near the Gulf of Guinea.

Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, Virginia, USA


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Subject: Cayenne Terns: an elegant solution?
From: Martin Reid <upupa(AT)AIRMAIL.NET>
Date: 27 Jun 2002 6:56am

Dear All,
Firstly, I've added pics of Elegant Terns from early December to those
already in-place from late February in Northern Chile, at my page:
http://www.martinreid.com/elegtern.html - note how short are the crests of
some individuals.  The crest must be moulted-replaced at some point, and it
looks as though this may take place in the Oct- Jan period.  Does anyone
else have pics of ELTEs from this time-frame that confirm or refute this
notion?
Assuming for the moment that the above is true, it is reasonable for any
potential vagrant ELTE in that time period (e.g. the recent bird(s) from
Galveston, Texas) to have shortish crests yet still be pure ELTEs - true?

I am warming to the theory that Cayenne Tern is the result of a mixing of
ELTE and SATE way back in the past.  Keep in mind that ca. 15,000 years ago
there was a gap at the tip of Mesoamerica separating it from South
America.  Perhaps a small number of migrating ELTEs regularly went through
this gap, and met with smaller numbers of acuflavida SATEs at the southern
limit of their short-distance migration, thence forming a hybrid swarm in
NE S. America. Given that at this time, the NE coast of South America was
more distant from Florida than it is now, I think that this swarm was
mostly ELTEs with only a few pioneering SATEs - thus the original hybrid
swarm was probably much more ELTE-like than SATE-like.  I'll speculate
further that the progeny of this event that inherited more of the ELTE
genes began to move down the Atlantic coast of S. America in response to
the greater migratory urge of ELTE. Eventually such birds made it to the
equivalent Austral latitude of  the Boreal range of ELTE breeding colonies
(this is precisely where the southern colony of CATE is found).  Over time,
with the closing of the Panama Gap, fewer ELTEs made it into this Atlantic
population - but SATE were not restricted (in fact as South America moved
north, it came "within range" of more and more wintering SATEs) and they
continued to feed into the northern CATE group, leading to the current high
and variable percentage of black in the bills found there.  Meanwhile, the
CATEs that had moved further south were less-influenced by the SATE
introgression further north (maybe a few Caribbean - i.e. more SATE-like -
CATEs followed the more migratory southern CATEs back south).
I've flown out of Paitilla airport at the Pacific end of the Panama Canal,
in a small 'plane - you do not have to go very high to see the vast
Caribbean on the other side stretching out into the distance, so I think
that a few ELTEs still make the "Jink" across the gap from time to
time.  Given that ELTEs are now being seen further south in Chile than once
thought, it may be that a very small number "reverse-migrate" and come
around Cape Horn into the Atlantic - but probably fewer birds do this than
those who drift across the Panama Isthmus.
Putting all this together I feel it offers a plausible explanation for why
in modern times we have  "Cayenne Tern" - a form that has three separate
populations on the Atlantic coast, with lots of SATE introgression on the
northern group, less in the middle group, and almost none in the southern
group (which also is the largest in measurements - close to the average of
ELTE....).  It also explains why some northern CATEs looks so like ELTE in
bill shape and color (such birds may be the result of very recent ELTE
hybridization in the colony). It also suggests that perhaps, in those pics
of a large northern CATE colony where one or two birds look just like
ELTEs, that they are indeed ELTES that had crossed the Gap and were
continuing a historic - yet vastly diminished - hybridization event.
Do I love to speculate, or what?!
I feel that this makes the task of ID-ing medium-sized orange-billed birds
very hazardous - almost akin to the fun we have with certain large
gulls.  Maybe we need to apply the same caution for now, and only identify
those that fit in at the conservative end of the variation spectrum.
This of course relies on us knowing that spectrum; coming full circle to my
first point that ELTEs must have short crests for a period - when is this?
Cheers,
Martin

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


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Subject: Re: White-tld Tropicbird
From: Eran Tomer <etomer(AT)EMORY.EDU>
Date: 27 Jun 2002 11:04am

Hello all

A relevant citation and a comment, if I may:

Le Corre, M. and Jouvenin, P. 1999.  Geographical variation in the
White-tailed Tropicbird Phaethon lepturus, with the description of a new
subspecies endemic to Europa Island, southern Mozambique Channel. Ibis.
141(2). April, 1999. 233-239.

Excert (C)

"Two groups were distinguished: the 'large subspecies' (lepturus and
fulvus from the Indian Ocean, catesbyi from the western Atlantic Ocean)
and the 'small subspecies' (ascensionis from the central and eastern
Atlantic Ocean, dorotheae from the Pacific Ocean, and the birds from
Europa Island). No clinal variation was found in the Indian Ocean, the
birds from Europa Island being the only 'small' ones. This population also
had a high frequency of golden morphs, a feature that does not exist
elsewhere in the western Indian Ocean... It also differs from the birds of
the two small subspecies by the frequency of the colour morphs and the
distribution. Consequently, we propose to treat this population as a
previously undescribed subspecies, endemic to Europa Island, for which we
propose the name Phaethon lepturus europae."

The Europa Island population is much closer to the Atlantic than the one
in Christmas Island. On another note, the intensity of the golden pigment
is probably due to the amount of carotenoids that the bird consumes, which
would vary among individuals, populations and seasons.  It is possible
that pigment accumulates faster in tail feathers than in other plumage
parts, which would also explain the varying shades and intensities of
yellow/red. This phenomenon is epecially likely if the long tail evolved
in relation to coutship. All of this is speculation only.

Best regards

- Eran Tomer
  Atlanta, Georgia
  etomer(AT)emory.edu


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Subject: Tropicbird tales
From: Ned Brinkley <Phoebetria(AT)AOL.COM>
Date: 27 Jun 2002 2:22pm

[this posting was rejected on first attempt yesterday; here's a second effort]

On Louis Bevier's post on subspecies of White-tailed Tropicbird in North
American waters, a bit of added speculation (I think I posted this to this
listserv about 4 years ago, so apologies if redundant) --

Tail pigmentation is misleading in most field guides: all White-tailed
Tropicbirds off the North Carolina coast, when studied closely, show tails
tinged distinctly with golden, salmon, pink, or orange.  Sometimes this color
can be quite pronounced, probably in adults in breeding condition.

On 25 September 1994 off Hatteras, North Carolina, birders studied an adult
White-tailed Tropicbird whose entire plumage was strongly tinged golden.  It
is presumed that the only subspecies of White-tailed Tropicbird in the
western North Atlantic Ocean is the one nesting at Bermuda and in the
Caribbean, Phaethon lepturus catesbyi.  Golden-morph White-tailed Tropicbirds
occur in the Indian Ocean, in the subspecies designated P. l. fulvus,
formerly known as the "Golden Bosunbird"   or  "Christmas Island Tropicbird."

In the case of the North Carolina record, one would suspect an aberration in
plumage rather than a stray golden morph of the Indian Ocean form.  It is
interesting that Bermudian ornithologists, who have studied thousands of
individual White-tailed Tropicbirds over the past 50 years, have not noted
such a plumage in P. l. catesbyi.  The more likely possibility would seem to
be a bird of Southern Atlantic origin.  White-tailed Tropicbirds breeding at
Fernando de Noronha, Ascension Island, and on islands in the Gulf of Guinea,
Africa, are designated P. l. ascensionensis by some authorities, and some
observers (Rich Rowlett among them) have reported golden-plumaged birds in
and near the Gulf of Guinea.

Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, Virginia, USA


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Subject: a not so elegant theory, after all ....
From: Martin Reid <upupa(AT)AIRMAIL.NET>
Date: 28 Jun 2002 6:46am

Dear all,
May thanks to those who pointed out my gaff regarding the timing of the
Oceanic gap between the Americas: this gap was closed permanently about 3
MILLION years ago see this site:
http://www.oberlin.edu/~Geopage/projects/204projects/solimine/SolimineGeol204.html
).

This shoots a big hole in my theory... or does it? How long is the
time-line for Tern evolution?
I apologise for inadvertently misleading you.
Regards,
Martin

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


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Subject: [TEXBIRDS] Little-like Egret photos (fwd)
From: ian paulsen <ipaulsen(AT)KRL.ORG>
Date: 30 Jun 2002 5:41pm

HI:
 Any comments?

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

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2002 16:22:48 +0000
From: Rob Fergus <birdchaser(AT)HOTMAIL.COM>
To: TEXBIRDS(AT)LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Subject: [TEXBIRDS] Little-like Egret photos

Judy Donaldson has posted a couple of photos of the Hornsby Bend egret at:
http://home.austin.rr.com/scottmagic/egret.html

Note the two long plumes and shortish plumes on the nape.  These pics were
taken with wind blowing the plumes out from the neck.

Rob Fergus
Executive Director
Travis Audubon Society
2525 Wallingwood Drive                 Phone: 512.347.7572
Suite 301                              Cell: 512.779.3316
Austin, TX 78746                       Fax: 512.306.0235

fergus(AT)travisaudubon.org               www.travisaudubon.org

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Subject: Little-like Egret photos
From: Angus Wilson <wilsoa02(AT)ENDEAVOR.MED.NYU.EDU>
Date: 30 Jun 2002 7:49pm

I took a quick look at Judy Donaldson's photos of the Hornsby Bend egret:
http://home.austin.rr.com/scottmagic/egret.html

I'm pretty confident this is not a Little Egret and see little reason (excuse
the pun) to invoke a hybrid. The bright yellow facial skin stikes me as perfect
for Snowy Egret and rules out most populations of Little Egret. The bill also
looks typical for Snowy and lacks the heavier, more dagger-like quality of
Little Egrets. Sorry I can't be more encouraging!

As we have heard before on ID-Frontiers, the presence of longer, thicker plumes
amid the shorter, fluffier plumes is unusual, but not unheard of, in Snowy
Egrets. These photos provide valuable documentation of this and it is great to
see them posted.

Angus Wilson
New York City

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