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IN-BIRD for Tuesday, January 22, 2002
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Subject: Re: conundrum Barn Owls
From: Bill Buskirk <billb(AT)EARLHAM.EDU>
Date: 22 Jan 2002 7:30am
I'm going to post this response to a query by Don Gorney to all on IN-BIRD:
Don and others on IN-BIRD:
I removed the Barn Owl as I was no longer confident in the record.
The report was from students of mine for whom this was their first
ever Barn Owl and the ID was by voice alone. Having said that, their
description of the calls had initially been convincing -- aspirated
rasping hisses given by two birds calling back and forth to one
another. It was supported by the occurrence of credible sight
records for Barn Owls on that area of Earlham's backcampus earlier in
the fall.
A week or so after the Richmond CBC I was out before dawn with Jim
Seaney and Anne Rust for the Mary Gray CBC and we heard a call that I
identified as Barn Owl -- likewise an aspirated rasping hiss, but
now, in retrospect, a call that was perhaps too short and abrupt for
Barn Owl. It is a call that I've heard in deep winter before, but
not on a CBC. In the past, I've passed it off as "probable Barn
Owl", but I'm afraid that the combination of "list quest" on the CBC
and the recent report at Richmond initially gave me more confidence
in my ID than was warranted.
For several days after these counts, Jim Seaney worked Earlham's back
campus in the predawn hours (the site of the Richmond CBC report).
He did not find Barn Owls, but instead observed a pair of Great
Horned Owls giving calls similar to the ones he and I had heard on
the Mary Gray CBC. If you know Jim, you know he is a careful and
cautious observer; I'm confident of his report.
So, as Henry West would have said of these Barn Owl records,
"I.I.T!" (Interesting if true). I now conclude that I don't have
confidence in either of the Barn Owl records we had on the CBC's. I
appears that at this season Great Horneds have a short rasping call
(perhaps used in the early stages of courtship or territory
reestablishment - they should be on eggs soon.).
I wonder if others on the IN-BIRD list know this call from Great Horned?
I'm more familiar with the longer shriller wheezing whistle call that
young Great Horneds give during the summer; that's a very different
call than what I heard on the Mary Gray CBC and what the students and
Jim described from their observations.
I am confident, from the descriptions of several students, that there
were Barn Owls on Earlham's backcampus last fall. They had good
looks at the birds perched on the tower associated with Earlham's
high ropes challenge education course. I talked with my ornithology
class lab yesterday about this and several students are likely to be
checking backcampus regularly over the next few weeks. I hope to do
a couple of owl walks for the class in the near future and we'll
check out that area. We are fortunate to have a back campus that
supports Great Horned, Barred, Eastern Screech-, and occasionally
other owls. Our last record of breeding Barn Owls in this region was
from a hollow snag just behind the president's residence (about 20-25
years ago).
Regards,
Bill Buskirk
Biology Department
Earlham College
Richmond, IN 47374
>Bill, I have been monitoring CBCs as they are submitted to National
>Audubon. I noticed for the Richmond count, you did not include Barn
>Owl with the totals. So, I am curious as to why it was omitted.
>
>It was great for Alan Bruner and I to talk with Jim Cope and family
>when they were over in western Indiana. It was nice that all of us got
>to see a Golden Eagle so well.
>
>=====
>Don Gorney
>Indianapolis, IN
>dongorney(AT)yahoo.com
>www.dongorney.com
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
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Subject: Middlefork Reservoir, Wayne Co.
From: Bill Buskirk <billb(AT)EARLHAM.EDU>
Date: 22 Jan 2002 7:34am
Yesterday afternoon's (21 Jan) Earlham College Ornithology class
field trip to Middlefork Reservoir, N side of Richmond, Wayne Co.
produced:
Canada Goose 2000 (est.)
including 4 "Richardson's"-type birds
Common Goldeneye 1
Hooded Merganser 2
Ruddy Duck 3
American Coot 2
Ring-billed Gull 175
At Springwood Park
American Wigeon 8
Gadwall 25
Bill Buskirk
Biology Department
Earlham College
Richmond, IN 48384
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Subject: state bird atlas site
From: John Castrale <jcastrale(AT)DNR.STATE.IN.US>
Date: 22 Jan 2002 9:02am
There is a web site (http://americanbirding.org/norac/) devoted to state
atlas projects. I'm not sure how current the information is, however.
John Castrale
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Subject: Lawrence Co. brown thrasher
From: John Castrale <jcastrale(AT)DNR.STATE.IN.US>
Date: 22 Jan 2002 9:38am
On Sunday, I had a brown thrasher at my residence near Spring Mill
Park. It was actively scratching through leaves searching for food.
Several years ago I had one winter but this is the first one I have seen
this winter. We sometimes get them on Christmas Bird Counts.
Feeder birds seemed especially active on Sunday with the inch or less of
fresh snow on the ground; nothing that unusual, but fox sparrows,
towhees, and purple finches (2 females) are always nice to see.
John Castrale
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Subject: La Porte Co. Specialities
From: Ed Hopkins <ed_hopkins(AT)COMPUSERVE.COM>
Date: 22 Jan 2002 12:49pm
Monday, 1/22/02
Michigan City Harbor, NIPSO beach:
Great Black-backed Gull, 2 adults
Michigan City, La Porte Co. Dump:
Great Black-backed Gull, 1 adult
Lesser Blk-backed Gull, 1 adult
Thayer's Gull, 2 adults, 1 imm.
Gravel pit pond south of Hwy US30/IN39 intersection in La Porte Co.:
Tundra Swan, 13
(The following DECOYS were in the same pond: canvasback, redhead, scaup)
Ed Hopkins
W Lafayette
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Subject: Tar dumping
From: "Joan E. Tweedell" <joantweedell(AT)JUNO.COM>
Date: 22 Jan 2002 3:52pm
I had a call from an Amish fellow (No return phone number) in Nappanee
who wonders what he can have done about a batch of tar that had been
dumped on his property several years ago by the county road dept. In the
summer the tar melts and birds get trapped in it. He says that he has
photos of trapped Killdeer to prove it. However he cannot get the county
to do anything about it, since they feel that it isn't a problem. He
called us at Audubon as a last resort.
Any ideas?
Joan in South Bend
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Subject: Amos W. Butler Audubon Society Feb. Program
From: Mark Leggett <bluegrosbeak2(AT)YAHOO.COM>
Date: 22 Jan 2002 7:44pm
Bird Sound 101 will be the topic of the Amos W. Butler
Audubon Society program on Feb. 12 at 7:30 pm. Brad
Jackson will be the presenter, and he's a good one.
The venue is the Holliday Park Nature Center, 6363
Spring Mill Road in north central Indianapolis. The
program is free and open to all. Feel free to contact
me if you have questions.
=====
bluegrosbeak2(AT)yahoo.com
Mark Leggett
Indianapolis, IN
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Subject: Audubon/Library Birding Workshop
From: Mark Leggett <bluegrosbeak2(AT)YAHOO.COM>
Date: 22 Jan 2002 7:53pm
Ready for Spring 2002? Birding the Spring Migration
is the topic for a slide and lecture workshop to be
held on Saturday, March 30, 2-5 pm. Don Gorney,
volunteer naturalist at Ft. Harrison State Park, will
be the presenter. The program is co-sponsored by the
Amos W. Butler Audubon Society and the
Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library. Venue will
be the Holliday Park Nature Center, 6363 Spring Mill
Road in north central Indianapolis. Free and open to
all, but you must pre-register by calling 317 269-5247
(a Library number). Refreshments!
=====
bluegrosbeak2(AT)yahoo.com
Mark Leggett
Indianapolis, IN
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Subject: Elkhart Co. 1/22/02
From: DanHSt(AT)AOL.COM
Date: 22 Jan 2002 9:47pm
A nice sunny day in the 30' to 50's which called for a walk to Fiddler's Pond
and a circuit of my neighborhood. Yesterday the Tundra Swan was still at
Fidler's Pond (since Jan 2) but not seen today. The following were seen there:
300 Canada Geese, 3 with white on orange neckbands but too far away to read,
about40 Mallards
2 L. Scaup
8 Am. Coots
The Neighborhood:
1 Red-tailed Hawk
4 Mo. Doves
2 Red-bellied W.P.
3 Downeys
2 White-breasted Nuthatches
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
5 Tufted Titmice
3 B.C. Chickadees
7 Blue Jays
1 Mocking bird, along a creek where I had seen one last year
3 Robins
9 Bluebirds
3 White-crowned Sparrows
1 Song Sparrow
9 Juncos
35 House Finches
20 Goldfinches
Dan Stoltzfus
Goshen IN
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