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website updated; hand-feeding; parakeet feeding



Hi Carolinabirders,

I *FINALLY* finished my latest website update! No, I haven't yet 
developed the Ash-throated Flycatcher photos, those are still in the 
camera in an unfinished roll of film (I'm tempted to develop the roll 
anyway, so they don't get destroyed in an accident like my photos of 
Florida's would-be first Common Redpoll did). But I have added the albino 
White-throated Sparrow from Olesia Kennedy's feeder in Hillsborough, NC; 
to go straight to the photo of this striking critter, see
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/Birdpics/AlbinoWTSP.jpg

The rest of my website starts at
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/

Other new bird photos include the male Masked Duck and a Limpkin from my 
trip to Florida in June, and a Black-billed Magpie and Northern Harrier 
from my Memorial Day weekend trip to California. Also, on a separate 
page, all of my photos from my research trip to Hawai'i last summer are 
up, including a bevy of exotic landbirds, a few native seabirds and 
waterbirds, and even an endemic honeycreeper or two... For bug-o-philes 
like myself, I've posted lots of new mystery critters in need of 
identification, on the Hawai'i page as well as my usual "other photos" 
page. In addition, there's a Lestes damselfly from Merchant's Millpond on 
the odonate page that needs identification to species. I've also put up 
the Blackburn's Hawaiian Blue butterfly that Jeff Pippen has been waiting 
for, as well as a few pictures of endemic Hawaiian damselflies (on the 
odonate page though, not the Hawai'i page). Leppers might want to see the 
spectacular Stinging Rose Caterpillar and more subtle Tersa Sphinx moth 
on my "other photos" page. There are even a few new herps, including a 
Brimley's Chorus Frog from the Green Swamp. And I've separated out my 
plant photos to a separate page now, with the carnivorous plants from the 
Green Swamp leading off...

On Mon, 14 Jan 2002, Armstrong, Craig wrote:
> 
> I was just wondering if anyone on the list has had much experience with
> handfeeding wild birds.  

Back up in Massachusetts, there's one wildlife sanctuary where wild 
Black-capped Chickadees will feed from visitor's hands. I've heard 
rumours that Red-breasted Nuthatches will too, but I've only ever 
encountered the chickadees. The sanctuary staff (working for 
Massachusetts Audubon) try to discourage hand-feeding, but I think the 
benefits of getting children and non-birders to care about birds and 
conservation probably outweigh the unconfirmed negative effects for those 
species (as opposed to feeding waterfowl like Canada Geese and Mallards, 
which should be discouraged; it has much more significant negative 
effects on wildlife habitat).

I've had chickadees investigate me closely at my parents' house nearby, 
and maybe even land for a split second, but never actually feed from my 
hand.

On Fri, 11 Jan 2002 Jchat99@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Several minutes later, I saw a large feeding flock in trees
> behind my house.  Climbing up a trunk was a Black-and-White Warbler!     

Is it just me, or have there been a lot more Black-and-whites reported 
this winter than usual? Two years ago the one that Will Cook, Kent Fiala, 
and I found near Lake Wheeler seemed like the only one around; this year 
there seem to be reports from all over the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. 
Looking at BirdSource's CBC results, I see four NC CBCs reporting them 
this winter, including Durham and 2 for Jordan Lake. Last year, five NC 
CBC's, but Durham is the only inland one. The year before that, just 
three NC counts, and no sign of our Raleigh bird, but the website only 
lists the top 100 counts so we probably just got left off... Mattamuskeet 
NWR (6, 6, and 2 birds) and Southport (2 birds each year) have the top NC 
totals for this species all three winters, FYI.

On Fri, 11 Jan 2002, Russell Lay wrote:
> 
> I've seen a lot of speculation on these birds on this listserv. What is the
> difference between the feeding habits of Monk Parakeets and those of the   
> extinct Carolina Parakeet?

Actually, I think they're pretty similar. Alec Motten, the professor of 
Duke's biodiversity course, claims Carolina Parakeets fed heavily on 
Giant Cane seeds. An article by Merrill Lynch in "North Carolina Afield", 
in the same issue that profiled him and Harry LeGrand, says that early 
settlers killed many parakeets because they raided apple and other fruit 
orchards, and that the parakeets also ate the seeds of Bald Cypress and 
Sycamore, the nuts of Pecan and Beech, and assorted wild fruits and 
berries. I've read references elsewhere that they preferred Cocklebur 
seeds but ate many grass seeds and raided cultivated grain fields. So, 
had the Carolina Parakeet not been driven to extinction by the 
combination of market hunting and deforestation, it would probably be an 
agricultural pest today, and subject to control the same way blackbirds 
and cormorants often are.

I've considered at times that the southeastern US should have a parakeet 
introduced to replace the Carolina. Merrill suggests in his article that 
they may have been important dispersers of Bald Cypress seeds. However, 
the Monks are very different from Carolina Parakeets in their habitat 
selection (mostly around human communities vs. floodplain hardwood 
forests) and nesting behavior (stick nests vs. tree cavities), among 
other things. There are probably much better approximations out there. 
However, given the big Monk population in Florida, the smaller ones in 
New England and Chicago, and now this pair near Rocky Mount, we may not 
have a choice...

Good birding,

Josh


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

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