Larry et al,
I live in southeast PA, about an hour away for the Black-backed Oriole which
I was lucky enough to see yesterday afternoon. Below are a couple of
postings from the PABirds Listserv that have mentioned the pedigree issue of
the bird.
The ongoing discussion and reports of the bird can be found here:
http://birding.aba.org/maillist/PA01
Barry E. Blust
21 Rabbit Run Lane
Glenmoore, PA
Upper Uwchlan Township, Chester County
<mailto:barrybl...@comcast.net> barrybl...@comcast.net
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to
everything else in the Universe."
-- John Muir
===
Subject: Black-backed Oriole. Berks county
Date: Fri Feb 3 2017 11:20 am
From: scottweidensaul AT verizon.net
While this is an exciting sighting, I think it's important to realize that
this is a species that shows only limited, mostly altitudinal migratory
behavior in its natural range in Mexico, and like most orioles is routinely
kept there as a cage bird (and thus, perhaps, illegally north of the border
as well). I think PORC is going to have its hands full trying to suss out
the provenance of this bird.
Scott Weidensaul
Schuylkill Haven, PA
===
From: Bird discussion list for Pennsylvania on
behalf of Geoff Malosh
Sent: Friday, February 3, 2017 3:28 PM
To: pabi...@list.audubon.org
Subject: Re: [PABIRDS] Black-backed Oriole. Berks county
Jerald and all,
Along with the difficulties Scott Weidensaul already mentioned about this
species (primarily altitudinal migrant, endemic to central Mexico, not known
to wander widely, commonly kept in captivity at least in Mexico) is the fact
that it's an adult male -- precisely the age/sex one would most expect for
an escaped or released cage bird. If this were a young-of-the-year bird
(probably more likely to "get lost" and while also less likely to have been
shuttled up here illegally) it would be a different story. Of course, if it
was a young bird it would probably be passed off as a Bullock's or a hybrid,
ha ha!
The truth is that there is no way to prove that this bird is wild. Unless
it's directly shown somehow to be an escaped captive (which *is* provable in
certain cases), ultimately the provenance of this bird is unknowable. So it
will be up to every individual birder's own subjective judgment and
philosophy to decide whether this bird "counts". The Pennsylvania
Ornithological Records Committee, and indeed the ABA Checklist Committee,
will likewise be forced to make an entirely subjective judgment on the
record according to nothing more than their own personal philosophies and
intuition. That's simply the way it is with birds like this -- there's no
way to know for sure. So my advice would be this: if you would like a chance
to see a free-flying Black-backed Oriole and not have to travel to central
Mexico to do it, then go see this bird and enjoy it, and don't get too
caught up in the unknowable question of whether it "counts". In the end,
everyone's lists are their own.
Good birding,
Geoff Malosh
Allegheny County
(PS - my guess is this bird isn't going to "count". I'll probably go try to
see it at some point anyway.)
===
From: bounce-121208407-77645...@list.cornell.edu
[mailto:bounce-121208407-77645...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Larry
Trachtenberg
Sent: Saturday, February 4, 2017 12:45 PM
To: Anders Peltomaa
Cc: Ethan Goodman; NYSBIRDS; EBirds NYC
Subject: Re: [ebirdsnyc] Re: [nysbirds-l] Red-necked Grebe on CPk Reservoir
probably is a bird released by WBF on Wednesday
Tangentially related, and not that I would chase it, but was curious if
there are any thoughts on the pedigree of the Black backed oriole being seen
at a feeder in Berks County PA (near Reading)? If accepted I understand it
would be a first North American ABA record.
L. Trachtenberg
Ossining
Beautiful adult red shouldered hawk perched low right at entrance to croton
point park this a.m.
Sent from my iPhone
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