The escape from the Bronx Zoo was in 1995. I don't know much about this species, but I would think 20 years might be a reasonable life span.
Bob Lewis Sleepy Hollow NY http://www.sharonlbegley.com/great-escape-birds-flee-the-bronx-coop ________________________________ .................... As usual the difficulty of accepting a rarity of this magnitude lies in trying to establish its provenance. Not to play Devil's advocate, but I feel like I have seen this species at the Bronx Zoo, and seem to remember an incident many years ago when that same aviary was breached by some inclement weather. I think it was too many years ago for it to relate to this particular bird, but it shows such a scenario is possible. I wouldn't consider myself an expert at judging the wear of feathers of birds kept in captivity, but it is often brought up in discussing vagrants-as recently as the Hooded Crow on Staten Island. The wonderful flight photos that Andrew Baksh took seem to show a large amount of wear on the tips of the primaries and the tail feathers (I might even call them tattered). Food for thought? anyway...I would be remiss if I didn't thank my wife for being so understanding as to let me chase this bird on her birthday! Let's hope it stays around awhile... Best regards, Shane Blodgett Brooklyn NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
