[texbirds] Re: Another Perspective
- From: "Collins, Fred (Commissioner Pct. 3)" <Fred_Collins@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "'tedleeeubanks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <tedleeeubanks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 18:45:12 +0000
I agree whole heartedly. However, Ted had an omission of fact. Last year Bob
Honig had a Banaquit show up in his yard on Hebert Road in Waller County and
you know what a hotbed of cruise ships Waller County is. He also had a nesting
Nutmeg Manikin there a few years ago. Probably a freighter from SE Asia
responsible for that. You know the Toyota distribution center is in Waller
County and obviously those birds must have been in a crate of auto parts. ;-)
Fred Collins
(281) 357-5324
Director: Kleb Woods Nature Center
Cypress Top Historical Park
Commissioner Steve Radack
Harris County Precinct 3
www.pct3.hctx.net<http://www.pct3.hctx.net>
From: texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Ted Lee Eubanks
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 10:19 AM
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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 dropped into Brownwood.
Where is there a pattern for ship-borne vagrancy? I see absolutely none. I do
see something of a pattern for birds released from the bird trade along the
border, and I agree that at times the call is a difficult one (orange-breasted
bunting, for example). What about the Aztec thrush in Corpus (Packery, I
believe)? Yes, I have seen it caged (once, in western Mexico). But what is more
likely, a true vagrant appearing along our coast or someone sneaking an Aztec
thrush across the border, releasing it, and it finding its way to Packery? And
where does Dan's white-crowned elaenia fit? Just exactly which ship would this
South American species have hopped?
I wholeheartedly agree that the onus is on a birder to prove what they saw.
Once proven, the onus is on the birding community (the various record
committees, to be exact) to prove that the bird is not of a natural origin,
whatever that means. In my mind, the naysayers have proven nothing.
Ted Lee Eubanks
Austin, Texas
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