[cayugabirds-l] What is up with Ebird.
I cannot submit bird records due to maintenance. Been down for a week. Rob Blye, East Coventry Township Chester County, Pennsylvania -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] Ed Hart's Obituary in Ithaca Journal
A brief story about Dr. Ed Hart with a link to birds of the Cayuga Lake Basin, however tenuous. I married the summer between my junior and senior years at Cornell. My wife moved with me to Ithaca in September 1971 and was hired as a bookkeeper/receptionist at the ophthalmology practice of Drs Hart, Levitt and Lempert on Rt 89 northwest of Ithaca. After I graduated with my Wildlife Biology degree with a concentration in ornithology, I got a temporary job at Babcock Chicken Farm in Trumansburg spreading chicken manure from their egg production houses (that is the connection to birds in Cayuga basin). We had one car; I dropped her off at the Drs office, went to work and picked her up at the end of the day on the return trip to Ithaca. I had to wait for her to finish her day as I worked farm hours and usually got to the office before she was finished. The first day I went in the waiting room and started to read a magazine. After 10 minutes the office manager came out of her office and said, "Mr Blye, you must leave the building, Your odor is driving the patients away." I was covered in a fine spray of liquified manure and its odor to which I had become habituated to so I did not smell it but everyone else did. I have fond memories of Dr. Hart driving his Porsche 911 to and from the office. - Original Message - From: "Tom Fredericks" To: "Upstate NY Birding" Sent: Friday, October 2, 2015 9:01:34 AM Subject: Re:[cayugabirds-l] Ed Hart's Obituary in Ithaca Journal Being with Ed Hart just made you feel good. What a wonderful man. In the mid '80s I ran a trail run on the FLT with him and a couple of dozen other runners from Burdett to Ithaca called 'Ed's Ultra', named after him. We stopped at lunchtime at the top of Connecticut Hill for a lunch arranged by his wife Jocelyn. In the years since it was always a pleasure to speak with him as we occasionally crossed paths. I'm very happy to have known him, and saddened by his passing. Tom Fredericks -- Forwarded message -- From: Meena Madhav Haribal < m...@cornell.edu > To: Cc: Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2015 23:21:27 + Subject: Ed Hart's Obituary in Ithaca Journal Hi all, I knew Ed through being his and his neighbors Dobsons land steward for FLLT for several years. Then he also became Cayuga Bird Club member. He was the one who taught me about peripheral vision and told me mine was excellent as I could see the birds lot more quickly. He was one of the nicest persons I have met in my life. http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2015/09/30/edward-hart-civil-rights-champion-runner-doctor/73040610/ Meena -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird ! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] a mystery---goldfinchs
Chipmunks and squirrels do what they do without conscience or shame as do all predators. Nature is messy. Good work for keeping your cats inside. - Original Message - From: "Melanie Uhlir" To: "Robyn Bailey" , "Susan Fast" , "CAYUGABIRDS-L" Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2015 4:17:23 PM Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] a mystery---goldfinchs I guess I hate chipmunks now. Why didn't the vicious vermin eat the murder victims?? My cats are indoor-only. If I could train them to eat only chipmunks and House Sparrows I would let them out. Melanie On 9/9/2015 4:11 PM, Robyn Bailey wrote: Re: Part 2…I have heard that this is a chipmunk M.O. Fortunately, have never had to witness it in person. Robyn Bailey From: bounce-119633859-15067...@list.cornell.edu [ mailto:bounce-119633859-15067...@list.cornell.edu ] On Behalf Of Susan Fast Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2015 3:20 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] a mystery---goldfinchs I've been watching some inexplicable behavior (to me) by 1 or 2 goldfinches nesting in my yard. There are 2 parts. Part 1: 2 weeks ago I noticed a female goldfinch perching in bushes along the front of the house, then flying toward the upper lefthand corner of a large double-hung window, hovering for a second, then flying against the glass. This was late afternoon and she repeated the behavior a dozen times. I would scare her away, but she returned after several minutes. Night fell and she desisted. At 0700 next morning she was at it again. I tightly closed the inside curtains. No effect. I then hung a painter's dropcloth over the whole window on the outside. This stopped her briefly, but she then moved to the upper lefthand corner of an adjacent window (same size and shape, but 4' away) and continued. I put a dropcloth over that window also. I have 2 other identical windows in the second story over these, but she did not go up there, thankfully. I didn't see her the rest of the day. Next morning I took the cloths down and she did not reappear. Part 2: The last several days, I have seen a goldfinch flying repeatedly into the top (40' up) of a large sugar maple in our side yard. Nest, I figured. About an hour ago, my daughter found a headless baby bird, still warm, on the ground under the tree. The neck was still present, although skinless, the head gone except for the very bottom edge of it, apparently cleanly removed. She called me out to look, and as we did so, another baby dropped onto the roof of her car. Blood was still flowing from the point where the neck attaches to the body, but both head and neck were gone. No other damage visible. Both babies have rudimentary wing feathers and patches of fuzz here and there. At this time also, an adult goldfinch could be heard vocalizing from above in the tree. Shortly thereafter, a female adult was seen moving about among the goldenrod and other weed heads below the tree and picking out seeds. She was also vocalizing (prob. same bird) initially, but stopped after a couple minutes. Ideas welcome. Steve Fast Brooktondale -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird ! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird ! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird ! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] rare bird rant
Jody, Dave and others, I have some of the same birding behaviors as Jody but one activity I do support whole-heartedly is the regular and frequent use of Ebird. Ebird lets me keep track of my bird sightings almost effortlessly. Most importantly, it lets me contribute to our collective knowledge of bird distribution and populations, again with very little effort. I have been birding since about 5 years old and earned my living as a wildlife biologist. Since about 1969, I have filled out paper checklists that I have stored somewhere. I conducted multi-year bird populations studies that were entered into corporate data bases with the assurance that the data would never by erased. But, I don't really know what birds I have seen and the data from those studies was dumped (without myknowedge) by a database administrator looking for space (I guess). I am thrilled with Ebird and at least I know what I have seen and where since I started using Ebird regularly in 2013. I plan to use the paper records of my bird population studies and my birding checklists to enter historical data into Ebird for both personal, selfish reasons and to make the study data available to others. Please use Ebird. You could even hide its output if that violates your sense of privacy. Rob Blye CALS 1972 - Original Message - From: "Jody W Enck" To: "CAYUGABIRDS-L" , "Dave Nutter" Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 8:05:21 AM Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] rare bird rant Hello All, I was stimulated by Dave’s well-written email to offer an anti-rant 😊. (And, Dave, please keep your rants coming, because I do enjoy reading them!) Maybe the fact that I don’t have a cell phone and rarely carry my little trac-fone with me says a lot about how I approach birding. Encounters with birds, rare or common, are very personal for me. I think it is great that others get so excited about chasing birds that others have reported, but that is not for me. More importantly for me, I really don’t want to have a bunch of other birders (even my friends) show up and interfere with that very personal interaction. If that is selfish, then I guess I’ll wear that label proudly. I am a scientists (both ecological and social) and a conservationist, yet I am reluctant to submit my sightings to eBird because I don’t want my personal experiences to be treated as data by others. I know I’m a bit weird about all this compared to most people. I still have not chased the Tufted Duck, which I’ve never seen in my life. There was a White-eyed Vireo on the other side of the Lab of O pond for three days a year or so ago and I never trekked the 150 yards out to see it. Please don’t think I am an anti-lister, either. I recently was in CA for work and passed the 500 species in the US mark (Surfbird) pointed out to me by Brian Sullivan (along with my life Black-vented Shearwater, Common Murre, Rhinoceros Auklet, and Pacific Loon -- see I do go birding with others sometimes!). Soon after Brian left, I stumbled upon a bird I did not recognize other than to know it was some kind of sandpiper-ish bird. I sat for a half hour taking notes, drawing pictures, and taking a few pictures. Then I had to go do work. Later that night I was excited to find out that I had encountered a Wandering Tattler (#501 in the US for me; California Thrasher was my last new one at #502 and California Condor had been #489 ). I did send Brian and a couple other CA birders a couple pictures for confirmation. But, I was thrilled and felt a real sense of discovery because I encountered the bird on my own and had a half hour to really observe it by myself. I know that is a very different experience than the ones desired by other birders. And, I totally support Dave’s point of view and do encourage others to share their sightings if they want to. Just please don’t expect me to want to 😊! Thanks Dave for stimulating this discussion. Jody Jody W. Enck, PhD Public Engagement in Science Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 607-254-2471 From: Dave Nutter Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 4:59 AM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Hey, everybody! I know seeing a rare bird is tremendously exciting, and I certainly wouldn't have wanted Mark to miss seeing the chase & interactions or getting those fantastic photos (plus congratulations on a fantastic life bird!). But please if at all possible before leaving a rare bird try to get word out on the text message rare bird alert system. If you are not on the text alert system, or don't want to take your eyes off the bird long enough to text about it, call someone else and have them put the word out. There were people in the field yesterday afternoon who also had been trying to find the Gyrfalcon and could've returned quickly. A Gyrfalcon was also seen two other times this winter with no text RBA sent out. But when Tim Lenz did get the word out
Re: [cayugabirds-l] Raven inquiry
Clara, I was a wildlife science major at Cornell from 1968-1972. I spent much time outside birding, hunting, fishing and taking courses all over the southern tier of upstate NY. I do not recall seeing a raven anywhere in the southern tier during my tenure at Cornell. I probably saw or heard ravens in the Adirondacks but do not affirmatively remember. I spent my career working as a fish and wildlife biologist consulting to the utility industry, for the most part. As an aside, the company I worked for initially, Ichthyological Associates, Inc. (and ultimately retired from a successor to IA), was started by Dr. Edward C. Raney, who mostly hired his students to staff projects around the eastern US. Many, many years later, in the fall of 2004, I was on a project at a proposed wind power site near Hornby NY, about half way between Corning and Watkins Glen. We had been hired to monitor raptor, songbird and waterfowl migration as part of the permitting and impact assessment process for a utility scale wind energy project. I spent many days looking at a mostly empty field where the monitoring site was located. I recall that I did not see a single migrating raptor during many days of observation. However I did observe resident red-tailed hawks, northern harriers and common ravens on a daily basis. One day I was watching an adult harrier coursing over the fields hunting. I was enjoying the harrier show when a single raven showed up and took up an aerial position behind and slightly higher than the harrier. The raven mimicked every move that the harrier made until the harrier turned over in the air and struck at the raven with its talons. The raven hopped up in the air, dropped back a few feet as the harrier righted itself and continued flying low over the field. As soon as the harrier resumed hunting, the raven resumed its mimicking flight until again the harrier struck at the raven. This process continued for about 20 min. I could usually see the birds naked eye but I also had binoculars and a scope. I watched in amazement as the aerial show went on for about 20 minutes. Finally the raven moved off and the harrier flew to another field. I speculated then, and now, as to why the raven mimicked the harrier. Was it planning to steal a mouse from the harrier? Was it simply demonstrating its flying prowess to the harrier and itself? Was it playing? I like to believe that the behavior was play with the potential benefit of a stolen meal. One thing for certain is that the raven was every bit as light in the air and accomplished a flyer as was the harrier. And we all know that harriers appear magical in the way that they soar, flutter, kite and drop to the ground on wings a buoyant as a helium-filled balloon. Rob Blye Robert W. Blye 300 Sanatoga Road Pottstown, PA 19465-7985 rwblye at comcast dot net 610 327-2010 610 213-2413 - Original Message - From: "Asher Hockett" To: "Ray Zimmerman" Cc: "cayugabirds-l" Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2014 11:35:23 AM Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Raven inquiry In my neighborhood on S Danby Rd, we have a fair number of Ravens. More often than not we hear them but do not see them, and the range of sounds they produce is truly staggering. This year I have heard at least 4 vocalizations which were new to me. On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 11:19 AM, Ray Zimmerman < r...@cornell.edu > wrote: Speaking of ravens, few days ago while waiting for the bus along Snyder Hill Rd. two ravens flew by. I noticed them when one vocalized, making a sound my neighbor described as a Star Wars light saber sort of sound, before reverting to the normal raven croaking. Sorry I don’t have a better description, but I was wondering if that is one of their known vocalizations? I don’t remember ever hearing it before. Ray On Dec 9, 2014, at 7:47 PM, Clara MacCarald < cmm...@gmail.com > wrote: Hi all, I'm looking for raven stories for an article in the Finger Lakes Community Newspapers. I had a nice conversation with Kevin McGowan about the local population, but I'd like to include some anecdotes from other birders. If you'd like to tell me about ravens, please contact me off list. Any help is appreciated. Even if you only ever see crows and hear ravens, that would be interesting. Or if you found Kevin's video, Caw vs. Croak, helpful. Thanks in advance, Clara MacCarald -- __ Clara MacCarald Trumansburg, NY (607) 229-5789 cmm...@gmail.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird ! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbir
Re: [cayugabirds-l] Birding in Europe
I searched for a did not find a decent app for a recent trip to Spain and Greece. Let me know if you find something. Rob Blye, East Coventry Township Chester County, Pennsylvania - Original Message - From: "Linda Clark Benedict" To: "cayugabirds-l" Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 7:25:00 AM Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Birding in Europe Can anyone recommend an eBook, or Android app for identifying birds in Europe? -- --Linda Linda Clark Benedict -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird ! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] American Three-toed Woodpecker Sighting?
The species has been changed to hairy woodpecker which is much more likely. Rob Blye East Coventry Township Chester County, Pennsylvania - Original Message - From: "John and Sue Gregoire" To: "David Weber" Cc: "Cayugabirds-L" Sent: Saturday, March 8, 2014 2:29:04 PM Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] American Three-toed Woodpecker Sighting? That would be exceedingly amazing for this area. Never say never but that report is entirely too casual to be believed. -- John and Sue Gregoire Field Ornithologists Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory 5373 Fitzgerald Road Burdett,NY 14818-9626 Website: http://www.empacc.net/~kestrelhaven/ "Conserve and Create Habitat" On Sat, March 8, 2014 14:25, David Weber wrote: > Can anyone validate this sighting, or is it just another misidentification? > > http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17357540 > > Good birding, > David > > -- > > > *David Jonas WeberCornell University, Class of 2016Natural Resources, > Applied Ecology* > > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Fwd: [PABIRDS] Snowy Owls: Age, Sex and Plumage
FYI
Rob Blye
East Coventry Township
Chester County, Pennsylvania
- Forwarded Message -
From: "Scott Weidensaul"
To: pabi...@list.audubon.org
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2014 8:16:04 AM
Subject: Re: [PABIRDS] Snowy Owls: Age, Sex and Plumage
Thanks to Barry and Dave for bringing up this timely subject, and linking to
Art McMorris's DVOC 2011 presentation. There has actually be a lot of movement
on this question recently, including three important publications in the past
two years that refines our understanding of snowy owl plumages. The take-home
message is that birders tend to simplify (often greatly) the degree to which
snowy owls can be aged and sexed by plumage, but that in some cases it is
possible.
In 2011, Seidensticker et al. published a paper ("Sexing young snowy owls,"
Journal of Raptor Research, 45[4]:281-289), based on work with nestlings in
Alaska. They had 100 percent success predicting sex by assessing the barring or
spotting pattern on the middle secondaries, especially S4. In a nutshell, males
had more spots (markings that did not touch the feather shaft) than bars, and
females the reverse -- but you have to have a clear view of the spread wing and
tail to tell, and this was tested only with juvenile birds.
In 2012, Solheim published a paper from Norway ("Wing feather molt in snowy
owls Bubo scandiacus," Ornis Norvegica, 35:48-67), which examined molt in 53
museum skins. In the author's assessment, it is possible to age a snowy owl in
the hand or in a sharp photo of the spread wing up to at least fourth year,
based on contrasts between new and old feathers. He notes that the 24-hour,
harsh summer sun to which snowies are exposed causes extreme fading even in
juvenile birds.
Also in 2012, Eugene Potapov and Richard Sale published an excellent monograph,
"The Snowy Owl" (T & AD Poyser) that synthesizes a lot of what's known about
snowy owl plumages. They discuss work by Hawk Mountain's J.F. Therrien and his
colleagues on the breeding ground with marked birds, showing that snowies
sometimes get lighter with age, sometimes darker, and some may do both at
different stages of the same bird's life. As Norman Smith in Massachusetts has
been pointing out for years about snowy owl plumages, it's complicated. For
example, some online ageing guides note that mottling on the tertials is a
juvenile characteristic. It is, but as banders have discovered, some of those
mottled tertials are retained for several years, making them largely useless
for ageing.
All this should give pause to those birders who, with breezy assurance, are
assigning age and sex to the owls they see this winter based mostly on body
markings. But with a good, clear photo of the spread wing and tail, it's
possible in some cases to make an age/sex assignment. David Sibley and I hope
to create an online ageing/sexing guide to snowy owls this winter, if we can
find a spare moment. And we continue to encourage photographers who have good,
clear wing and tail shots to upload them on the SNOWstorm website
(www.projectsnowstorm.org) so we can quantify age/sex classes in this winter's
irruption.
As to speculation about different plumage patterns for different regional
populations, remember that snowy owls aren't like other birds. The breeding
grounds work that J.F., Denver Holt and others have been doing strongly
suggests there *are* no regional populations -- that snowy owls are almost
entirely nomadic, moving back and forth across the Arctic like water sloshing
in a basin. Some of J.F.'s tagged birds moved a thousand miles between breeding
seasons, for instance. One thing we're doing this winter with SNOWstorm is
collecting DNA for genetics testing, but I'll be surprising if it shows much
that suggests regional variation.
As always, you can find more information and regular updates on our work at
www.projectsnowstorm.org.
Scott Weidensaul
Schuylkill Haven, PA
On Jan 26, 2014, at 3:50 AM, Dave DeReamus wrote:
> Barry's post about the plumage variation of the Snowy Owl rekindled something
> I've always wondered about: Has anyone ever found a correlation between the
> birds found at the southern edge of their breeding range trending darker
> (more heavily marked) and the birds at the northern edge (closer to the
> Arctic Ocean) trending whiter (less mottled)?
>
> I have absolutely nothing scientific to support this thought, but using some
> of my very limited common sense and realizing how important camouflage is to
> many birds, I've often wondered if the birds at the southern edge of the
> Snowy's breeding range might generally be darker in order to blend in better
> with their surroundings during the months with little or no snow cover. I'm
> assuming (possibly incorrectly) that
Re: [cayugabirds-l] age of Freeville Snowy Owl
http://www.dvoc.org/OrnithStudy/Presentations/Presentations2012/Snowy%20Owl%20plumages.pdf Th link above will take you to a presentation by Art McMorris of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC) on the difficulty of aging and sexing snowy owl based on darkness and extent of barring. Rob Blye East Coventry Township Chester County, Pennsylvania - Original Message - From: "Rob Blye" To: "Kevin J. McGowan" Cc: "Marie P. Read" , "CAYUGABIRDS-L" Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2014 8:50:22 AM Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] age of Freeville Snowy Owl With respect to sex and age of snowy owls based on darkness of plumage, I recall reading (either on this list serv or PABirds) that an extensive banding study done in Canada did not yield a consistent way to sex or age snowy owls based on their plumage. It was likley posted by Scott Weidensaul who is part of project Snowstorm. Rob Blye Robert W. Blye 300 Sanatoga Road Pottstown, PA 19465-7985 rwblye at comcast dot net 610 327-2010 610 213-2413 - Original Message - From: "Kevin J. McGowan" To: "Marie P. Read" , "CAYUGABIRDS-L" Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 7:43:11 PM Subject: RE:[cayugabirds-l] age of Freeville Snowy Owl Yeah, don't believe it. This bears looking into, and I hope the data compiled by the Snowstorm project (http://www.projectsnowstorm.org/) might help shed some light on the subject. "Conventional wisdom" about darkness of markings being tightly correlated with age doesn't seem to be accurate. The Snowstorm folks are requesting submission of photos of flying birds so that they can assess the "molt limits" of the birds to assess age. Molt limits are the obvious differences in age of the wing coverts that appear on birds (at least Passerines and owls) in their first year of life when they molt out of juvenal plumage. Most birds that age do not molt their flight feathers (primaries, secondaries, tail feathers), but do molt most or all of their body feathers. It appears that how many wing coverts a juvenile molts is variable, with many only molting some. Consequently, many (most?) young birds in their first year of life, after their first summer, show a mixture of fresh and old wing coverts and can be distinguished from adults this way. I don't know how easily owl feather generations can be distinguished, but you can see an example of a presumed immature Snowy Owl at projectsnowstorm (taken by Cornell grad Tom Johnson). The heavily barred and quite dark female Snowy Owl that came in to the Lab this week did not show any obvious molt limits, and I presume that despite its heavy markings, it was not an immature. Kevin -Original Message- From: bounce-111924375-3493...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-111924375-3493...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Marie P. Read Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 7:15 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: RE:[cayugabirds-l] age of Freeville Snowy Owl http://www.marieread.com ***NEW*** Music of the Birds Vol 1 ebook for Apple iPad now available from iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/music-of-the-birds-v1/id529347014?mt=11 From: bounce-111924362-5851...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-111924362-5851...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Kevin J. McGowan [k...@cornell.edu] Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 7:03 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] age of Freeville Snowy Owl Why are people calling the Freeville bird an immature? To the best of my knowledge, Snowy Owls, and especially females, cannot be aged by body plumage. The Snowstorm website, http://www.projectsnowstorm.org/, is asking for photos of flying birds so they can look at molt limits in the wings to judge age. Based on the darkness of the individual I was good with calling it a female, but I saw nothing to judge age. Did I miss something? Kevin -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingma
Re: [cayugabirds-l] age of Freeville Snowy Owl
With respect to sex and age of snowy owls based on darkness of plumage, I recall reading (either on this list serv or PABirds) that an extensive banding study done in Canada did not yield a consistent way to sex or age snowy owls based on their plumage. It was likley posted by Scott Weidensaul who is part of project Snowstorm. Rob Blye Robert W. Blye 300 Sanatoga Road Pottstown, PA 19465-7985 rwblye at comcast dot net 610 327-2010 610 213-2413 - Original Message - From: "Kevin J. McGowan" To: "Marie P. Read" , "CAYUGABIRDS-L" Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 7:43:11 PM Subject: RE:[cayugabirds-l] age of Freeville Snowy Owl Yeah, don't believe it. This bears looking into, and I hope the data compiled by the Snowstorm project (http://www.projectsnowstorm.org/) might help shed some light on the subject. "Conventional wisdom" about darkness of markings being tightly correlated with age doesn't seem to be accurate. The Snowstorm folks are requesting submission of photos of flying birds so that they can assess the "molt limits" of the birds to assess age. Molt limits are the obvious differences in age of the wing coverts that appear on birds (at least Passerines and owls) in their first year of life when they molt out of juvenal plumage. Most birds that age do not molt their flight feathers (primaries, secondaries, tail feathers), but do molt most or all of their body feathers. It appears that how many wing coverts a juvenile molts is variable, with many only molting some. Consequently, many (most?) young birds in their first year of life, after their first summer, show a mixture of fresh and old wing coverts and can be distinguished from adults this way. I don't know how easily owl feather generations can be distinguished, but you can see an example of a presumed immature Snowy Owl at projectsnowstorm (taken by Cornell grad Tom Johnson). The heavily barred and quite dark female Snowy Owl that came in to the Lab this week did not show any obvious molt limits, and I presume that despite its heavy markings, it was not an immature. Kevin -Original Message- From: bounce-111924375-3493...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-111924375-3493...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Marie P. Read Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 7:15 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: RE:[cayugabirds-l] age of Freeville Snowy Owl http://www.marieread.com ***NEW*** Music of the Birds Vol 1 ebook for Apple iPad now available from iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/music-of-the-birds-v1/id529347014?mt=11 From: bounce-111924362-5851...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-111924362-5851...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Kevin J. McGowan [k...@cornell.edu] Sent: Friday, January 10, 2014 7:03 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] age of Freeville Snowy Owl Why are people calling the Freeville bird an immature? To the best of my knowledge, Snowy Owls, and especially females, cannot be aged by body plumage. The Snowstorm website, http://www.projectsnowstorm.org/, is asking for photos of flying birds so they can look at molt limits in the wings to judge age. Based on the darkness of the individual I was good with calling it a female, but I saw nothing to judge age. Did I miss something? Kevin -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- - No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4259 / Virus Database: 3658/6981 - Release Date: 01/06/14 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbird
Re: [cayugabirds-l] Request for this listserve.....
Cayuga bird list serv participants, I heartily embrace the request to provide a location when posting to this list serv. Although I attended Cornell and birded many of the areas mentioned, it has been along time and it is often very difficult to figure out where people are posting about. George's post below seems too much, but the place name and county at a minimum seems reasonable. The town(ship) name too might be helpful for us old, former residents of Tompkins County. Rob Blye East Coventry Township Chester County, Pennsylvania - Original Message - From: "Geo Kloppel" To: "cayugabirds-l" Sent: Thursday, May 2, 2013 7:35:50 PM Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Request for this listserve. OK, Tompkins County, Town of Danby, roughly half a mile south of Station Road, 3/4 mile west of Bald Hill Road, 7/8 mile east of NY 34. Latitude & Longitude in decimal degrees: 42.31605N 76.50678W (approximate, per Google Earth; if you prefer another coordinate system you probably already have an app for conversion) That's probably enough location info for birds that haven't even arrived yet! :-) -Geo -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
