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Kill Ligustrum! Birding with Sibley? etc.



Hi Carolinabirders,

Forwarded below: another announcement about Sibley's visit to the 
Regulator. Sounds like they are going to try to convince him to lead a 
short birding trip; it'd be a great opportunity, although Duke's East 
Campus is not what I'd consider a hotspot of birding activity...

On Wed, 2 May 2001, Jordan Brooks wrote:
> 
> I had a pair nest and raise three little ones in my
> storage building. They fledged last week and I occasionally
> hear them in the ligustrum bushes where the parents have apparently
> stashed them until they're old enough to go about on their own.

Ligustrum is one of those plant names that sends a chill down every 
ecologist's spine. It is also known as Privet. While there is one native 
species, there are a few exotic ones which are a serious blight on the 
landscape. They are right up there with Russian and Autumn Olive and 
Japanese Honeysuckle in terms of threats to native plant species and 
wildlife habitat. Jordan's Carolina Wrens may not mind, but they aren't 
exactly a declining species... Any Ligustrum or Privet bush other than 
the one native species should be destroyed, right along with Russian 
Olives and the rest of these weeds. And certainly noone should ever buy 
the European (Common) Privet, L. vulgare; the Chinese Privet, L. sinense; 
or the Japanese Privet, L. japonicus. There should be laws against 
selling such things, but alas, our country is not so enlightened yet. For 
more information, see:

http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/worst/ligustr.html#map
http://www.vnps.org/invasive/FSLIGUS.html
http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/ligsin.pdf
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/weed/Sec3C.htm
http://www.mdflora.org/publications/invasives.htm
http://darwin.eeb.uconn.edu/ccb/publications/publication-1.html

Good birding,

Josh


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

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

---------- Forwarded message ----------

I thought some of you might be interested in the upcoming visit of David
Allen Sibley at the Regulator Bookshop (Ninth Street, Durham). 

Saturday May 5, 1:00 p.m.
DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY
Introduced by Phillip Manning, author of "Islands of Hope"
(We may be able to persuade Mr Sibley to do a little "bird walk" on East 
Campus after his talk). 
The author and illustrator of the phenomenal new "Sibley Guide to Birds" 
(Knopf) will be here to talk aboutbirds!  In the six short months since 
its publication, the Sibley Guide has become THE new standard in its 
field. Here's what Book Page said about this book: "The new guide by 
distinguished birder, illustrator and writer David Allen Sibley, The 
Sibley Guide to Birds, has magnum opus and labor of love stamped all over 
it. To begin with, some statistics: 554 gorgeous pages in an oversized 
weather-resistant flex-paper format, describing 810 species and 350 
regional populations, with more than 6,600 illustrations. The artwork is 
gorgeous and the writing clear and crisp. Species are shown both flying 
and perched or swimming, usually in every seasonal and juvenile variation 
of their plumage. Every species gets its own range map and detailed voice 
description. Families are introduced with pages of side-by-side 
comparison. And the format is identical throughout. No other bird guide 
is easier to get used to or more comprehensive than The Sibley Guide to 
Birds."