Re: Frigatebird

["Joshua S. Rose" <jsr6@duke.edu>]

On Sat, 15 Mar 2003, Ritch Lilly wrote:
>
> I realize this bird will occasionally pass through our area in June or July
> and again later in the fall.  I don't have a clue if there are any records
> of the bird in our immediate area in mid-March, but I'm confident of the ID.
> I first thought about any effect these winds may have had on this bird's
> route. But I would have thought that southeast winds
> would have been more likely to bring in a frigatebird than northeasterly
> winds.

One tantalizing thought occurs to me: there are *three* species of
Frigatebird recorded from the ABA area. The weather that would bring in a
Magnificent from the Caribbean would not necessarily be the best for a
Great or a Lesser... Unless you took ridiculously detailed notes, you'd
probably have to re-find the bird to ID it to species. I think foot color
is a key character. I might have an e-mail with further details on the
problem somewhere; Joe Morlan has a note on one debated bird on his
website
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/jan02.htm

Just resubscribed, and found out about the Hatteras excitement. I tried
sooooooo hard to get my classmates to take the scenic route home from
Beaufort, via the OBX... Epic recounting of the past week will appear
soon.

Good birding,

Josh


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

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