FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] Towhee notes, etc.

[Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxx]

The McCracken County Spotted Towhee was seen again Sat afternoon (Jan 10th).
It and a number of other birds have now noticed the cracked corn I put out,
so hopefully it will hang around close to the spot.  After visiting the
towhees at this location several times, I now have a completely new
appreciation for how quiet and undetectable they can be in dense cover.
They skulk about and often don't call, just remaining low near the ground
and out of view. Several times I've sworn the birds have departed areas of
cover only to find that they are still right in the same area.

In perusing bird books this weekend, I noticed what may be a confusing thing
in Sibley. Twice since these Spotted Towhees have shown up I've been told of
people seeing "hybrids" or "intergrades."  I believe that these birds are
likely normal Eastern Towhees. If you look at Sibley, p. 475, you'll see
that he gives Easterns brown-edged tertial feathers (the three above the
outer portions of the primaries).  Many or most of our birds here in KY have
tertials that are broadly edged in WHITE or at least some white, giving them
patterns like the tertials that Sibley shows for males of the races of the
"Great Plains" and "Southwest."  If you look at National Geo guide (has to
be a later edition, not the first -- p. 399 in my 3rd edition), you'll see
(at least for our region), more correctly depicted tertials on the Eastern
Towhees.

The National Geo treatment also goes into greater depth on subspecies, and
MAY explain the different look to the bird in eastern Muhlenberg County.
The bird being seen there very closely matches a male of the race P. m.
oreganus as shown in National Geo, with greatly reduced back streaking.
Based on the plates in National Geo, the McCracken County bird is clearly P.
m. arcticus or P. m. montanus; these two races are the ones that breed east
of the Rockies so you'd expect them to be the races to occur here. Whether
or not the Muhlenberg County bird is actually a P. m. oreganus (a race that
breeds in the Pacific Northwest) could probably only be answered by
collection, but we're talking subspecies here, so there could be variation
in P. m. arcticus and montanus that would go towards oreganus???

On a separate note, Hap, Amy and I visited Long Point on Sunday morning to
witness the goose extravaganza; we did see maybe 10,000 geese in the
vicinity, but the big numbers have apparently already cleared out elsewhere
or only come in to roost. In fact, at about noon there were NONE at the
tower!

bpb, Louisville
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