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An interesting survey (fwd)
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: An interesting survey (fwd)
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 14:20:44 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
Hi Carolinabirders,
I've been more or less housebound lately, and will continue to be for
another week pending prelims (crucial oral exams). At home, the Chippie
invasion continues, with counts as high as 30 individuals at a time!
White-throats have not yet left, but the last Junco apparently has. My
hummingbird feeder hangs untouched except for my occasional cleanings. I
have not found any nests in the neighborhood yet, but the continual
vocalizations of Barred Owl, Cooper's Hawk, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and
Carolina Wren indicate that the nests are probably there nonetheless. And
on campus yesterday, a vaguely familiar song froze me in my tracks; I
eventually traced it to a Yellow-Rump, a species which I've seen down
here many times but not heard sing since I left Whitefish Point a few
years ago.
However, I did manage to surf the other birding listservs for the first
time this week. A few things caught my eye. The most shocking, for the
benefit of anyone who has the opportunity to travel to Miami in the near
future, was a report of a Ruddy Quail-Dove at Matheson Hammock County
Park in Coral Gables. For more details, visit Jack Siler's website
(if you haven't bookmarked it already, you can link from my own) and
check "Eastbirders", one of the Florida listservs. Unfortunately, I don't
think I can make it there this summer...
Second up, someone posted the following web address:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/biodiversity000316.html
It leads to an article about biodiversity and species endangeredment in
the US. The most striking feature is a map, about halfway down the
article, showing the distribution of "imperiled" species in this country.
I was mildly surprised to see red patches, indicating 8 or more imperiled
species, both in the western end of both Carolinas and the southeastern
corner of NC. I imagine this probably indicates rare plants,
invertebrates, and herps more than birds, but still interesting.
Lastly, I notice that a survey has been advertised on a couple of other
listservs, including BIRDCHAT. The study is being run by two graduate
students who are looking into the effect of electronic RBA's on birder
behavior, and on the economics of local communities. Such studies are the
birder's best friend; when development interests and consumptive users
such as miners, loggers, home-builders, and the like argue that
protecting bird habitat is hurting the economy, it definitely helps to
have publications on our side to argue that we help the economy too! So
anyone who has the chance, check out this survey (address below) and fill
one out.
I'll be studying for the next week-plus, then taking a break in
Massachusetts for the following weekend. So I guess I'll see y'all when
the Spring Counts start!
Good birding,
Josh
--------------Forwarded message---------------------------
I had the following message float into my e-mail box over the
weekend, so I went and checked out the web site and then filled out
the survey. It is legit and the questions made me stop and think a
little bit. Even if you decide not to fill out the survey, it is interesting
to take a look at!
Chuck
Two graduate students, Sarah Hume and Douglas Hume,
are conducting a survey of birders, who use electronic
rare bird alerts, to study how electronic rare bird
alerts have impacted the behavioral, identity, actions,
emotions, and other aspects of birders. This study will
also try to determine how these changes in behavior
effect local economies. This electronic survey is
strictly confidential. The website of the survey is:
http://members.aol.com/lithicat/survey.htm
If you have any questions or concerns you can contact
Sarah and Douglas at d.hume@uconn.edu.
*************************************************************
Chuck Otte mailto:cotte@oznet.ksu.edu
Geary County Extension Office, PO BOX 28 785-238-4161
Junction City, Kansas 66441-0028 FAX 785-238-7166
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/geary
=============================================================
Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Zoology
jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/