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Re: GBBC; hints of spring; ATFL photos



On 19 Feb 2002, at 14:03, Joshua Stuart Rose wrote:

<snip>

> On Mon, 18 Feb 2002, BILL HILTON JR Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont
> Natural History wrote: 
> 
> Just for snicks, which of the birds on the
> write-list do 
> CarolinaBirders think would be the LEAST likely to be
> seen on a North 
> Carolina GBBC count? > > 

> >Pine Grosbeak   42 
> >Northern Hawk Owl   5 
> >Great Gray Owl  4 
> >Juniper Titmouse    4 
> >Willow Ptarmigan    3 
> >Crested Caracara    2 
> >Three-toed Woodpecker   2 
> >Western Scrub-Jay   2 
> >Bell's Vireo    2
> >Trumpeter Swan  1 
> >Iceland Gull    1 
> >Snowy Owl   1 
> >Canyon Wren 1 
> >Wood Thrush 1 
> >Northern Shrike 1 
> >Saffron Finch   1 
> >Lapland Longspur    1
> 
> Okay, I'll bite, just for fun... I'd say Willow Ptarmigan. The
> longspur, gull, and Snowy Owl are all already on the state list; so's
> Northern Shrike. Wood Thrush nests here, at least. Saffron Finch is a
> common enough cage bird, which is why they're so common in Hawai'i
> now. Trumpeter Swan was just reported from SC. Bell's Vireo has shown
> up in Georgia a couple of times. A Caracara actually appeared in
> Massachusetts once (presumed an escape), and they nest in Florida. The
> other two owls and the grosbeak stage periodic irruptions that could
> theoretically someday reach the NC mountains, and maybe the woodpecker
> could too. The wren, jay, and titmouse are even more remote, but all
> are still more mobile and thus more prone to stray out of their normal
> ranges than a ptarmigan. I think...

Again just for fun, and because these kinds of debates (within 
limits) *are* really fun :)...

I'd say the Titmouse, being pretty much a nonmigratory habitat 
specialist (and not subject to the kinds of cyclical pressures which 
can lead to irruptions) is probably just as remote in any practical 
sense as the Ptarmigan (but I'd have a hard time disagreeing with 
Josh on Ptarmigan as laugher #1).

Likewise for the Wren (same reasons), so I'd lump the Wren, Tit, 
and Ptarmigan onto the top rank of improbability together.  At the 
outer limits of infinite remoteness, minor distinctions are 
essentially 0 :).

I've always been curious why we don't have any relic populations of 
either Black-backed or Three-toed WP in the Southern 
Appalachians (I'm going out on a limb and assuming that maybe 
they were there at one time, feel free to disagree) - it's too bad we 
don't have a few to eat adelgids in the Black Mountains :-/.

Happy Birding,

-Sandy

--
Sandy Cash
Durham, NC
scash@mindspring.com