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white-collared robin at Duke



Hi C-birders,

No, I haven't spotted an astoundingly rare vagrant. In fact, as far as I
can tell, there's no such species as the White-collared Robin. But I was
passing a window in a stairwell here in the Duke Biological Sciences
building yesterday, and looked out of it (as birders often do). The small
flat-roofed storage shack to the east had a sizeable rain puddle on it,
and several American Robins, plus a Northern Cardinal or two, were
drinking, bathing, and carrying on. And I immediately noticed one oddball
with a striking white collar around his neck. And when I say "collar", I
mean a white band of feathers, not a foreign object that he'd stuck his
head into. Exactly the same as all the other Turdus migratorius around it,
except for that one glaring difference. Actually seemed kind of
aggressive, chasing other robins away; maybe he's got an inferiority
complex or something...

Anyway, that bird stood out from the crowd very effectively. Tons of
robins winter on the Duke campus, I regularly see them swarming around the
gardens, though at this time of year the birds could have also been headed
for Florida or something. But everybody watch those flocks for the white
collar, I'd be interested to know what this character's up to!

Good birding,

Josh


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

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