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An interesting survey (fwd)



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/