[obol] Re: Streaked Horned Lark late notice!
- From: Joel Geier <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>
- To: obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 10:03:21 -0700
Wayne & All,
Indeed there are a couple of other Horned Lark subspecies for which the
males are similarly bright (sierrae which nests in the mountains of NE
California, and insularis which is restricted to the Channel Islands,
and seems to be closely related to strigata, according to a recent paper
in The Auk), but there is not much risk of them showing up in the
Willamette Valley during breeding season.
However, I'd agree that from a conservation standpoint, there is not
much point in birders trying to record lark sightings by subspecies.
The exception might be if you spot one of the birds that Scott Pearson
(up in Washington) or Randy Moore (in Corvallis) have color-banded at
nest sites within the known breeding range. There may be some
opportunities for birders to get involved with that next winter:
Portland Audubon has started a monitoring project aimed at wintering
Horned Lark distribution, which is particularly important for the more
migratory (and genetically isolated) population in Washington.
For the separate, breeding-season project that I've outlined, it's
enough just to report that you've seen a Horned Lark-- anytime from May
through August -- and then try to follow up on the nesting success.
There is no need to try to sweat out a subspecies identification.
If eBird is the easiest way for you to make note of the coordinates of
these birds, then by all means do so. However I'm also keeping a
database of reported locations, so you're also welcome to just send me a
note (either as GPS coordinates or as old-fashioned directions "1/4 mile
west of the intersection of Horner Lane and Lark Rd., north side of
road")
I do worry that, at some point along the way, we'll need to remind
number-crunchers that these Horned Lark reports going into eBird are the
result of a focused effort by birders to find larks, rather than a
random sample of agricultural habitats. But that's a long-term issue to
monitor, not an immediate concern.
Good birding,
Joel
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
On Wed, 2014-06-11 at 01:07 -0400, obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> From: "Wayne Weber" <contopus@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [obol] Re: Streaked Horned Lark late notice!
> Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 13:21:29 -0700
>
> Rich,
>
>
> You cannot report a Streaked Horned Lark to eBird because that
> subspecies
> cannot be identified with certainty in the field. (There are 21
> subspecies
> of Horned Larks in North America, most of which can be safely
> identified
> only in the hand.) You can report a Horned Lark; in the Willamette
> Valley
> between May and August, a Horned Lark would almost certainly be a
> Streaked
> Horned Lark. You can also report a Horned Lark as being in one of 3 or
> 4
> subspecies groups, but only one particular Horned Lark subspecies is
> listed
> in eBird, and it's not the Streaked Horned Lark.
>
>
>
> All the best,
>
>
>
> Wayne C. Weber
>
> Delta, BC
>
> contopus@xxxxxxxxx
>
>
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