I once worked at a grain elevator in Galveston. This was certainly before Texbirds and possibly even before the internet. I think there was a "hotline" that you could use to report unusual bird sightings and I tried to use it once, but was never sure I got through. It was a recording that you listened to then you recorded your message.
I saw several strange little doves that I knew were not Inca Doves, but I had no idea what they should be called. I also saw some colorful birds that I couldn't recognize. Many of them hung around the elevator for a while. I imagine the abundant supply of spilled grain had something to do with that.
These birds may have been escaped or released birds from the ships, but they could have been hitch hikers too.
David Bryant Kingsland Tx.
-----Original message----- From: Ted Lee Eubanks <tedleeeubanks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tue, May 29, 2012 10:18:50 CDT Subject: [texbirds] Another Perspective Friends, let me reiterate that the ship-borne hypothesis is reasonable and plausible, and therefore testable. If these rarities are being carried by ships (even if unintentionally) then we should see a pattern in the constituency. The expected birds, I believe, would be as follows: 1) Distribution is weighted from the Texas ports out; 2) Species seen are common in the foreign ports in question; 3) Species that might come from the closest foreign ports would be more common than those from far away. Given the above, I would think that the Port of Galveston would be an attractive source of rarities. The port is now dominated by cruise ships that arrive from ports in the Caribbean. These trips are of short duration, and these ships are immense (lots of room for a wayward bird). Galveston makes all of the sense in the world for our test case. So how many Caribbean species have shown up in Galveston? None. Zip. Zero. What about the most common of birds, like the bananaquit? This bird is abundant throughout most of the Caribbean, and is easily attracted by humans. In fact, on most islands you work to keep them out of your food. So how many bananaquit records for Texas? None. Zip. Zero. What about other common Caribbean or Yucatan species such as the zeneida dove, or the white-crowned pigeon, or the melodious blackbird, or the turquoise-browed motmot (hell, any motmot)? None. Zip. Zero. The first clay-colored thrush showed up in Huntsville, hardly near any port. The first spotted rail dr
