[obol] Re: Lookingglass Painted Bunting & Canary
- From: David Irons <llsdirons@xxxxxxx>
- To: Wayne Hoffman <whoffman@xxxxxxxx>, adrian hinkle <adrian.hinkle@xxxxxxxxx>, OBOL Oregon Birders Online <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, matt hunter <matthewghunter@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2013 04:02:09 +0000
Wayne et al.,
I tend to agree that it's hard to dismiss a bird on the basis of ship
assistance. In essence a ship/boat is no different than a floating log that has
drifted out to sea other than it is under power. A strong flyer like a
Turtle-Dove could readily hopscotch across the ocean with a few timely rest
stops on boats or floating debris.
I offered up the example of Brown Booby in order to illustrate the murkiness in
the definition of "ship assistance." It was not intended to cast doubt on the
Oregon/Washington records of this species. If a Brown Booby appeared along the
Willamette River in downtown Portland (there is a record of a dead Masked Booby
from Government I. near the Portland Airport), I would presume that it took a
boat ride to get there. Does that ship assistance make it uncountable? I will
leave that to Shawneen and her cohorts to decide. Damn, Shawneen just reminded
me that I am on the OBRC and I would have to deal with this scenario. CRAP!
Sulids found along the outer coast, or in warm waters offshore, are best
treated as naturally occurring unless there is strong evidence to suggest
otherwise. At the time that Rare Birds of California was published (2007),
there were 13 records of Brown Booby just from Southeast Farallon Island, so it
is clear Brown Boobies are regular in nearby waters. Fun stuff to think about.
Dave IronsPortland, OR
From: whoffman@xxxxxxxx
To: llsdirons@xxxxxxx; adrian.hinkle@xxxxxxxxx; obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx;
matthewghunter@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [obol] Re: Lookingglass Painted Bunting & Canary
Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 19:34:38 -0700
Hi Dave – Good, rational comments. The American Birding Association (ABA)
used to have criteria for defining ship assisted vagrancy. In a quick check of
their website just now I did not find it. Back in the 1990s I had an extended
dialog with ABA over a record we had of a European Turtle-Dove in the Florida
Keys. The AOU Checklist accepted it and ABA considered it likely
ship-assisted, hence rejected it. After a few more occurrences, ABA finally
added the species to the Checklist about 5 years ago. This is a species that
migrates between Europe and Africa, and often comes aboard ships in the
Atlantic. As I remember it, the official policy was that ships were considered
part of the modern environment, so ship assistance was considered a natural
occurrence, unless the bird was captive or restrained. However, enough of the
ABA Checklist Committee at that time did not like that policy to block adding
birds to the checklist if there was any hint of ship assistance. By this rule,
a Brown Booby that rode a ship part way here could still be considered a
natural occurrence. (However if you look at the pattern of recent Brown Booby
occurrence in northern California you should see lots of evidence for
unassisted vagrancy). During this period I wrote an essay for ABA’s magazine
Birding on what constitutes establishment of introduced birds, that as I recall
also dealt with things like assisted vagrancy. The AOU and ABA Checklist
Committees were mainly dealing with the list for the whole continent or area,
respectively, but important questions remain at smaller scales, e.g. states.
One of the points I made was that if an introduced bird becomes established in
one state, but strays into another, it should be considered a countable
occurrence. Thus, if a Himalayan Snowcock strayed from the Ruby Mts. Into SE
Oregon, it should be considered a natural occurrence, because they are
established in the Ruby Mts. Shawneen Finnegan likely knows a lot more about
this, and about how ABA’s rules may have evolved. Wayne From:
obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David
Irons
Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2013 12:35 AM
To: adrian hinkle; OBOL Oregon Birders Online; matt hunter
Subject: [obol] Re: Lookingglass Painted Bunting & Canary Greetings all, I
concur with Adrian about the value of Rare Birds of California. It is a
comprehensive summary of all the bird records reviewed by the California Bird
Records Committee from the time it started (1970) until the book was published
in 2007. In addition to the listing of records, there are many graphs, plus
sketches and photos of rarities. Each account offers highly informative text
that includes the status and general distribution of each species, discussion
of subspecies, vagrancy patterns that have been identified and, when
appropriate, concerns and thoughts about the origin of birds that may have been
transported (by humans) somewhere along the way in their journey to California.
These accounts also discuss the thinking of the committee members and the
thought process behind some of the voting. At times and in the case of certain
species (i.e. Crested Caracara) one might argue that the CBRC has been overly
conservative in applying the "questionable origin" tag to species that occurred
in California sans some prior track record of vagrancy that would predict
occurrence in that state. It should be noted that Kristie Nelson and Peter Pyle
recently published a paper, which reveals that as few as 11 individual birds
may be responsible for the 60+ sightings of Crested Caracara in California.
http://www.birdpop.org/DownloadDocuments/Nelson_and_Pyle_2013.pdf On the flip
side of the provenance question coin, we Oregonians may be a bit quick to the
trigger when it comes to accepting birds like the Lookingglass Painted Bunting
as naturally occurring. There is every indication that the capture and trade of
adult male Painted Buntings is thriving in both Florida and Mexico. In the
Painting Bunting account in Rare Birds of California, Rob Hamilton–one of the
books editors–is quoted as saying that male Painted Buntings are "by far the
most common wild bird for sale in pet shops in northwestern Baja California"
and Paul Sykes et al. (2006) report that illegal trapping of Painted Buntings
is "widespread in southeastern Florida." The concerns of those who raise
questions about the provenance of birds like this Painted Bunting in this forum
are all too often dismissed out of hand by parties who can't possibly know
which species of birds and how many individuals are being illegally transported
into Oregon. It's a well-known fact that tar heroin and other illicit drugs are
being transported into and through Oregon (in many cases from Mexico or farther
south). How many of us have actually seen one of these shipments or knowingly
witnessed drug traffickers at work. I know I haven't. In my view, it's not at
all a reach to assume that many fauna (including live birds) are being
illegally transported into and through our state. Of course we'd all like to
believe that all of these rare birds are "countable" and naturally occurring,
but let's step away from our emotional investment surrounding this issue and
approach the discussion of these questions from a dispassionate perspective. As
a member of the Oregon Bird Records Committee, I can tell you that at best we
are making educated guesses when it comes to birds of questionable provenance.
Further, where does the boundary between human assistance and the absence of
human assistance lie? A good example might be Brown Booby. Oregon now has
several records. Boobies often roost on the masts and decks of ships. Can we
know that no legs of the journeys that brought these birds to Oregon involved a
boat ride? And how much of a boat ride does it take to qualify as human
assistance? On a more local level, I've had a recent experience that give me
cause to wonder about some of the unusual waterfowl that turn up in the
Willamette Valley. Last spring I found and photographed two Barnacle Goose X
Cackling Goose hybrids at Jackson Bottoms Wetlands in Hillsboro. This is an odd
and unexpected cross that I would not expect to find in Oregon. To my
knowledge, the breeding ranges of these two species do not overlap. Imagine my
surprise when fully two months later I saw the same two individuals in the
barnyard of one of my customers who lives ese. of McMinnville (about 30 miles
as the goose flies). This customer is an avid aviculturist and he has at
various times had all sorts of geese on his property, including Snow Geese
(both white and resident Blues), Ross' Goose (that just showed up), Lesser
White-fronted Geese (a small flock that he had and then sold), Barnacle Geese
(pure), Cackling Geese (mostly minima), Greater White-fronted Geese, plus
various sizes and shapes of Canada Geese. He also has a bunch of exotic
barnyard (non-native) geese. Needless to say, there is a lot of interbreeding
happening. A couple weeks before the Barnacle Goose X Cackling Goose hybrids
returned to his property I mentioned finding the two birds at Jackson Bottoms
to my customer. He immediately claimed that he had two birds matching that
description and that had disappeared a few weeks earlier. He went on to say
that they had been consorting with a flock of wild Cacklers on his property
before disappearing. Two weeks later, when I returned for my usual visit, he
pointed across the driveway and said "look who's back." Indeed the two hybrids
looked identical to the birds that I photographed at Jackson Bottoms weeks
earlier. Who knows how many aviculturists there are in Oregon, but it is surely
a much larger number than most of us appreciate. These folks buy and trade
birds back and forth with some degree of frequency and many of the birds are
not pinioned, thus they can fly freely. When it comes to provenance questions,
I consider myself to be a hopeless fence straddler. I can see and appreciate
the merits from both sides of this debate. There is always some level of
plausibility to the notion that a particular species could fly here on its own.
At the same time, transporting wild birds unlawfully is not something folks do
in broad daylight. Like other criminal activities, there is much happening that
we don't ever see, so it would be foolish to presume that there is no illegal
bird trade happening in and around Oregon. Dave IronsPortland, OR Date:
Fri, 30 Aug 2013 21:43:46 -0700
Subject: [obol] Re: Lookingglass Painted Bunting & Canary
From: adrian.hinkle@xxxxxxxxx
To: obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; matthewghunter@gmail.comMatt & others,I strongly
encourage you to read the account of Painted Bunting in Rare Birds of
California. I have the 2007 copy by Hamilton, Patten and Erickson; I'm not sure
if the book has been revised recently. I didn't completely get through reading
the Painted Bunting account, but I'm sure it has a lot of helpful information.
It looks like CBRC ceased to review Painted Bunting records in 2004, but it has
interesting comments on how they reviewed records prior to that, and graphs
showing what records were accepted as wild vs. escapee. I could scan the
account (it's several pages) if you don't have the book. Overall, Rare Birds of
California is a great and under-appreciated resource for Oregon birders.
Vagrant patterns in California often match those of Oregon.Sincerely,Adrian
Hinkle
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