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Re: Apodiformes



Hi Carolinabirders,

Took the plant diversity class out west yesterday. Primary goal was an old
copper mine near Silver Hill, not far from Salisbury, home to a rare and
bizzare species of copper-dependent moss. Not many birds there, but did
see a pair of the suddenly ubiquitous Wild Turkeys stalking through an
adjacent field. A Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher sang from the woods along the
edge.

We continued on to visit Morrow Mountain State Park. The picnic area at
the summit was drizzly and quiet, but had a great view. Then we walked the
Laurel Trail, as the sun gradually emerged, and Northern Parulas and
Black-and-White Warblers sang all around. A Pileated Woodpecker called off
in the distance several times too, and we saw one patch of his handiwork
at the base of an old American Beech. My favorite plant at MOMO was an
apparently native Hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) with profuse flowers, one back
in the woods, another near the park's museum.

Just received an e-mail from the executive director of the Ellerbe Creek
Watershed Association. ECWA has a project going at NorthPointe Commons (a
housing development in Durham near Ellerbe on Broad Street) turning a big
pile of construction fill into a grassland populated by native plants. Our
ED says he erected a bluebird house on the hopeful prairie, and a pair of
birds was already going in and out of the hole two hours after he put it
up! We also have bird and bat houses up or in the plans for Six Acre Woods
(the strip of land along the creek between Indian Trail and Westover
Parks) and possibly on the Hillandale Golf Course.

On Fri, 4 Apr 2003, gary wrote:
>
> got home in time to see 2 Chimney Swifts dive into their fav spot for the
> first time this spring, and a male Ruby-throated hummer make two trips
> thru the Coral Honeysuckle (after warning me to back away.)

One of the things I've learned in Stuart Pimm's field ornithology course
is that the classification of birds has been extensively revised in the
10-plus years since I took ornithology as an undergraduate. Alas, Gary,
Apodiformes is now just the swifts, and no longer includes the
hummingbirds! The hummers now have their own order, Trochiliformes... All
you hawkwatchers and falconers, out there might be shocked to hear that
the Falconiformes has been subsumed into the Charadriiformes, which always
included shorebirds, alcids, and seabirds, but now also includes all the
raptors, and virtually all of our favorite pelagic groups - tubenoses,
tropicbirds, boobies, etc. - as well! Yes, ornithologists may be splitters
now at the species level, but at the order and family level they've been
lumping lately... (justification for all of this is molecular analysis,
FYI)

Good birding,

Josh


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

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