[birdky] Status of Brown Noddy report at Kentucky Lake in July and other h urricane musings ....
- From: Brainard.Palmer-Ball@xxxxxx
- To: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 11:13:16 -0400
Because reports disseminate so widely across the internet, this may be the
best forum to update the status of the report of a Brown Noddy on Kentucky
Lake above the dam during the passage of the remnants of Hurrican Dennis on
12 July 2005. David Roemer, Mark Monroe, and myself have discussed the
observation at great length in intervening weeks, and we apparently all have
some level of reservation about the report being considered definitive.
Looking at the books, you'd think this should be a straightforward call, but
the distance, viewing conditions, and particularly our lack of experience
with Noddys and juv. Sooty Terns, have combined to suggest to us all that
the only prudent thing to do is not report the bird as a confirmed record.
I believe we all think that we saw a Brown Noddy that exciting morning at
the dam, but for now, we all have recorded notes concerning the observation
and will archive them personally; unfortunately the bird stayed out a bit
too far to get any photos in the dreary conditions. It may be that this
report is revisited at some point in the future, particularly if any of us
are able to study sub-adult Brown Noddy and Sooty Tern plumages and behavior
somewhere like the Dry Tortugas. Because of our decision, no report of the
noddy will appear in the upcoming summer season report in The Kentucky
Warbler or will be reported to the Ky Bird Records Committee.
Other hurricane notes ...
1) I apologize to Beckham Bird Club member, Lou Anne Barriger, who actually
first reported the Indianapolis frigatebird a couple of weeks ago, not Don
Gorney, who was just the messenger.
2) Claudia Angle with the U.S. National Museum emailed me some measurements
from a limited series of Wilson's Storm-Petrels someone assembled at the
Smithsonian some years back ... they are predominantly smaller measurements
than the Frankfort Fish Hatchery storm-petrel ... I think most authorities
who would review the measurements would agree it was a Band-rumped. I will
likely pass along the parts to someone else to confirm.
3) I incorrectly referred to the small invertebrates that I picked off the
storm-petrel's tail feathers as mites ... they are, of course, feather LICE
... there are some host species-specific relationships in these tiny
organisms, and it is possible that the species of louse, when closely
inspected, may yield both confirmation of the species of storm-petrel as
well as its likely origin! The authority on such beasts apparently resides
in New Zealand ....
4) It sounds to me like Adam Smith's Taylorsville Lake "phalaropes" he
reported after Katrina's passage were likely a small flock of Red-necks. The
ID will remain unconfirmed, but it really sounds like that's what they were.
Small flocks were reported more northeasterly with the storm's passage ...
like many of the birds we saw, grounded southbound migrants.
5) One of the most glaring weaknesses in my birding skills is thinking too
"traditionally." The recent reports of storm-petrels at the Frankfort Fish
Hatchery and a Greater Shearwater from a parking lot in Murfreesboro,
Tennessee, make clear that we birders need to be thinking outside of the
traditional patterns (in my case this time that big bodies of water are the
best places to look for interesting species). As David Roemer summarized so
well with his post a week or so ago, distinct patterns of occurrence are
quite apparent as more and more information is obtained on
hurricane-transported birds, but there is still much to be figured out. But
next time you can be sure that I will check out a few smaller bodies of
water right along the path of the low pressure center ... and drive by a few
Walmart parking lots!
bpb, Louisville
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