[bsg] FW: OKC bird is SKUA, apparently South Polar Skua

From: "Ingold, James" <James.Ingold@xxxxxxxx>
To: <LABIRD-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <bsg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2013 11:31:15 -0500
BIRD STUDY GROUP
Not a Louisiana bird, but thought you would all like to know - it might show up 
on Cross Lake!

Jim

From: okbirds [mailto:OKBIRDS@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Christopher Wood
Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2013 9:46 AM
To: OKBIRDS@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: OKC bird is SKUA, apparently South Polar Skua

Hi everyone,

Marshall Iliff just forwarded me photos of a skua from Oklahoma City.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94719908@N06/sets/72157634975063761/


It is a skua, presumably South Polar Skua. The thick neck, thick bill, blond 
head, short rounded tail, and bold white wing flash are well-documented in 
these photos. Skua ID is very difficult, but South Polar is the most probable 
choice, being the default summer skua off the Lower 48 right now and having 3-5 
prior records for the interior US. Two are already in eBird: 
http://ebird.org/ebird/map/sopsku1

Mikey Lutmerding was the first to write to eBird about this, then Tim Spahr, 
presumably from checking the eBird Rarity Pool in Flickr. Marshall Iliff 
quickly added some thoughts to let Chad Ellis (who entered this into eBird) 
know.

We don't usually step in to review in other states, but it seemed worth making 
sure this news reaches Oklahoma birders ASAP, so Marshall contacted Chad Ellis 
directly and asked me to contact this list.

We know of four prior records from the interior:

- 1, photographed, mid-summer (?), Lake in South Dakota (from memory..photo is 
in American Birds and )

- 1, Georgia -- in eBird; see map above

- 1, Tennessee, after Hurricane Katrina -- in eBird; see map above

- 1, unpublished and documentation lost, leg with intact band that returned as 
a South Polar Skua found at Little Soda Lake, NV, in 1980s, but was presumed to 
be a misread of the band number. I believe BBL people received the leg and 
confirmed the number, so assumed that it was an issue with the initial band 
reporting, although the band type was "a non-US band" (fide Danny Bystrak). If 
the leg and band were saved, this record should be unearthed and reviewed!

Hopefully the bird will stay for a while. Thanks, Chad, for putting this in 
eBird.

Chris Wood

eBird & Neotropical Birds Project Leader
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York
http://ebird.org 
http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu 

 
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[bsg] FW: OKC bird is SKUA, apparently South Polar Skua

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