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Seen any good swallows lately? Or banded shrikes?
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Seen any good swallows lately? Or banded shrikes?
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 11:52:26 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi Carolinabirders,
A few birding news tidbits from the other states:
Both Point Pelee, MI and Cape May, NJ reported groups - not vagrant
individuals, but flocks - of Cave Swallows showing up in the past couple
of days. Anyone who is near the coast or elsewhere and sees a flock of
swallows should examine them closely, just in case.
A bunch of Loggerhead Shrikes were color-banded in Ontario this summer;
watch any shrikes you see during CBC's this winter for these bands. The
banded individuals belong to an endangered subspecies, Lanius
ludovicianus migrans; their wintering grounds are unknown, and could
potentially be anywhere from Pennsylvania to Arizona. Each bird has a
standard metal band (adults received stainless steel bands, while
nestlings received standard aluminum alloy bands) plus one to two plastic
color bands (sealed with acetone). Please note position (upper or lower,
left or right leg) and color (red, orange, yellow, light green, light
blue, dark blue, mauve, white, dark pink) of bands. Please send
information (date, location, type of habitat) directly to JON MCCRACKEN,
Bird Studies Canada, P.O. Box 160, Port Rowan, ON N0E 1M0 (PH:
519-586-3531; FX: 519- 586-3532; EM: jmccracken@bsc-eoc.org).
Chesnut-collared Longspurs are being reported from Gulf Breeze, FL and
Whitefish Point, MI, while numbers of Lapland Longspurs have reached Cape
May.
A possible Yellow-billed Loon was reported from the same location where
the Kelp Gull has been hanging out in Maryland. If the report gets
confirmed, and the bird hangs around, I'll probably mention it again and
maybe drive up there...
Lastly, the residents of Ann Arbor, Michigan just voted to increase their
own taxes, with the increase going to purchase parkland and prevent
sprawl. They defeated a virulent campaign by real estate developers,
a campaign which was assisted by the highly conservative Ann Arbor daily
newspaper which published at least 9 negative editorials about the tax
increase and refused to print a single letter supporting it. Maybe the
residents of the Triangle and Triad should start thinking about similar
ballot proposals, and putting some petitions together...
Keep your eyes peeled!
Josh
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/