Jeff, reading your post about mixed up ducks made me think of an article that I just read in On Earth, the publication of the National Resources Defense Council, concerning the effects of synthetic chemicals released into the environment on wildlife and human reproduction. It specifically focuses on endocrine disruption. It can be read at the NRDC's website: www.nrdc.org. Just a thought. Could the mixed up ducks be a mutation caused by the disruption of their endocrine system by man-made chemicals? Carole Gobert Knox County, Tennessee >From: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx >Reply-To: OLCOOT1@xxxxxxx >To: missbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, >tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx,ARBIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, >BIRDWG01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,albirds@xxxxxxxxxxx >Subject: [TN-Bird] Duck Problems >Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:28:07 EST > >Dec. 28. 2005 > >During the last few weeks, I've run across a couple of mixed up ducks. Not >mixed with different species but mixed between male and female. At the >Lauderdale Waterfowl Refuge in TN, I located a Pintail with the full body >of a >female and the neck and head of a male. Yesterday, at TVA Lake in Memphis, >I found >a Hooded Merganser with the body of a male and the head of a female. These >did not appear to be transitional plumage's but as if you had unscrewed >the >head of one and put it on the other. Hormonal, chemical or just done to >screw >with our minds??? Any others seeing this around or am I spending too much >time >looking at ducks? > >The other problem is with bill tagged scaup. I'm finding a few in the >large >mixed flocks here. I can't get any feed back on where they are being >tagged >but that is not the problem. In the last two weeks, I've had two different >birds with trash stuck on the bill tags. Both birds were seen over a >period of >days and were constantly trying to remove or shake off the material. Is >anyone >else seeing this happening among other bill tagged ducks?? Probably no big >deal but it appears to be for some of the ducks around here. >Good Birding !!! > >Jeff R. Wilson / TLBA >6298 Memphis-Arlington Road >Bartlett, TN 38135 > > > >=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== > >The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with >first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. >You are also required to list the count in which the birds >you report were seen. The actual date of observation should >appear in the first paragraph. >_____________________________________________________________ >To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: >tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx >_____________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, send email to: >tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. >______________________________________________________________ > TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society > Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) > endorse the views or opinions expressed > by the members of this discussion group. > > Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN > wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > >_____________________________________________________________ > Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society > web site at http://www.tnbirds.org >* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * >Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp > >_____________________________________________________________ > > =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the count in which the birds you report were seen. The actual date of observation should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp _____________________________________________________________