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Durham Rufous, Rolling View migrants, Re: Gulls and Mutes



Hi Carolinabirders,

Believe it or not, it's April 4, and the female Rufous Hummingbird is 
*still* coming to the feeder at my house. I saw her personally this 
morning (I'd been mostly getting second-hand reports from a housemate 
who's around the house more than I am). It looks like the red patch on 
her throat has gotten visibly larger since she arrived. Anybody got a 
male Rufous Hummer I can borrow? After all, if we had nesting Scissor- 
tailed Flycatchers last year...

Yesterday, my fiance and I picked out the place and date to complete our 
courtship. It just happens to be the same place I profiled in Wake 
Audubon's "Birders' Guide to the Triangle", Rolling View SRA. While 
there, I noted a Sharp-shinned Hawk, a Red-tailed Hawk, several Purple 
Martins, a few unidentified smaller swallows, about 20 Bonaparte's Gulls 
(some molting into breeding plumage), and about 700 Double-crested 
Cormorants. I also heard a song which I strongly suspect was a Yellow- 
throated Warbler. The flock of corms flew by the community center in a 
series of long strings, making for an awe-inspiring sight, before 
settling into a raft on the water. 

On Tue, 3 Apr 2001, Jack Peachey wrote:
> 
> 1. How serious and what is the nature of the threat to native waterfowl
> posed by Mute Swans.
> 2. What legal obligations under federal law do owners of non-native
> waterfowl have to control their flocks so that they don't become a 
> nuisance?

My guess is that the Mute Swans pose much less of a threat to native 
waterfowl down here than they do up north. How many waterfowl species 
breed in the Carolinas? Wood Ducks, but Mute Swans tend to use very 
different habitats. Mottled Ducks, but they're just as introduced as the 
swans, albeit at least the Mottleds are on the right continent. Any 
others? They might disrupt wintering waterfowl, but I'm not so sure about 
it. I'd be much more concerned about the damage they'll cause to aquatic 
plants and invertebrates and water quality; they can really do a nasty 
job, between their constant grubbing in the mud, and their constant 
pooping all year round. Several clam flats back home in Massachusetts 
have been closed due to elevated levels of fecal coliform bacteria, 
thanks to the Mutes... Unfortunately, I don't think our legal system has 
advanced to the point of protecting us from careless, lazy, or ignorant 
waterfowl owners. Somebody please tell me I'm wrong!

On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, Jack Dozier wrote:
> 
> Gulls can cause great damage with just their bills.  They have been seen 
> eating/tearing up various creatures that seemingly could defend 
> themselves.  Gulls often catch tired migrant birds that seem too large for 
> them to eat.  Such things as rodents aren't safe either.

Neither are humans! Well, maybe from consumption... I worked as an intern 
for the Point Reyes Bird Observatory on their station on the Farallon 
Islands one summer several years ago. Anytime we left the buildings, we 
were advised to wear plastic construction helmets. If we didn't, we 
risked painful and occasionally even blood-drawing ambushes from the 
Western Gulls that nested pretty much everywhere on the island. More than 
once I had my helmet knocked off, including once when I was scaling a 
hill and my helmet bounced several meters downhill after being removed. I 
heard that the teams studying nesting Skua in the Antarctic had to wear 
reinforced motorcycle helmets, as the Skuas could easily split the 
plastic construction helmets in half with a single blow...

Good birding,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/