[texbirds] Another Perspective
- From: Ted Lee Eubanks <tedleeeubanks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 10:18:50 -0500
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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