OHIO-BIRDS Archives

September 2013

OHIO-BIRDS@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Darlene Sillick <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Darlene Sillick <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 21 Sep 2013 19:42:06 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (141 lines)
We are excited to begin a new season for Delaware County Bird Club programs
and guests are most certainly welcome to listen to our presenters and meet
other area birders.  Discussions are lively and laughter plentiful.  Our
club founder happens to be our speaker tonight, Edward H. Burtt, Jr. (A.B.,
M.S., Ph.D.) . We hope you will join us this coming Monday.  We have a
newsletter that is chock full of information and if you would like to read
it in its entirety please email me privately.  Our newsletter editor
Christina Voise has done a terrific job as she moves into year two with us
and she has help from club reporters Jed Burtt, Darlene Sillick, Dick
Tuttle, Charlie Bombaci.

 

Best

Darlene Sillick

DCBC program chair

 

 

 

     Welcome to another season of Delaware County Bird Club programs. The
Delaware County Bird Club meetings and program presentations take place on
the fourth Monday of each month, September through April, except in November
and December when, this year, they are held earlier in the month to allow
for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. Please join us in the City of
Delaware at the Ohio Wesleyan University, Schimmel-Conrades Science Center,
Room 163. Conversation and refreshments begin at 7:00 PM; the meetings and
programs start at 7:30 PM. Parking is available next to the Selby Stadium on
the east side of Henry Street and in the lot south of the Science Center
next to Branch Rickey Arena. 

 

     September 23rd : “High, Low and Charming in the Chiricahuas” (see
article below) - Dr. Jed Burtt, Dr. Cincinnati Conference Professor of
Zoology, Ohio Wesleyan University.

 

HIGH, LOW AND CHARMING

IN THE CHIRICAHUAS

Jed Burtt

 

     I stood with binoculars fixed firmly on a male Bendire’s Thrasher and
counted to ten. This was my life Bendire’s Thrasher, but counting was not an
attempt to calm down. “… nine, ten. Head in sun, poking at something on the
ground.” I noted the sun on the head and the behavior in my notebook. and
then enjoyed watching the thrasher. I was careful to review its proportions
and field marks, which were subtly different from those of the more common
Curve-billed Thrasher. I had seen so many of the Curve-billed Thrashers over
the last couple of weeks that I almost did not take a good look at this
individual, but something about it didn’t look “right”. So I looked again
and the more I looked the less “right” it looked. I fumbled in my pocket for
my worn Sibley Guide and found the pages on thrashers. There was the
Curve-billed Thrasher and next to it Bendire”s Thrasher. The short bill, for
a thrasher, and dark streaks, comparatively, set it apart, slightly, from
the Curve-bill.

     I knew that the bird was named for Charles Bendire, an enthusiastic
birder and U.S. Army Lieutenant who shot the first strange looking thrasher
while exploring the desert near Fort Lowell, Arizona where he was stationed.
He sent the remains to Elliott Coues, curator of birds at the Smithsonian
Museum in Washington, D.C.  Coues examined the mystery bird and sensed that
it was not a Curve-billed Thrasher, but what was it? Surely a thrasher. He
showed the carcass to several colleagues. They looked, nodded knowingly, and
pronounced it a female Curve-billed Thrasher. Coues wasn’t convinced.
Something about the specimen bothered him. He wrote to Lieutenant Bendire
explaining the situation and requesting additional information. 

     Bendire wrote to say that he agreed with Coues and thought the bird was
a new species of thrasher. A few weeks later a package arrived. It contained
notes on the bird’s habits and eggs, both of which were quite different from
those of the Curve-billed Thrasher. Most important Bendire included in the
package another specimen, a male that, when compared with specimens of the
Curve-billed Thrasher in the Smithsonian, was clearly a different and new
species.  Elliott Coues named the thrasher for his correspondent and one can
only imagine the young lieutenant’s elation when he opened that letter.

     Did all of this run through my mind as I watched the Bendire’s
Thrasher? Well, no, but I knew the broad outline of the story, if not the
details, such as the first specimen, the type specimen, which now lies in
the Smithsonian, was shot on 28 July 1872.

     Our trip had other highlights. My birding partner, Tony Scardaci, and I
had a wonderful view of a Golden Eagle just sitting on a pole. We heard a
Flammulated Owl, my first. I saw my first Arizona Woodpecker, sort of a
brown version of the Hairy Woodpecker. Sort of. Tony saw lots of Cassin’s
Kingbirds, actually Western Kingbirds, and I was greatly relieved when we
found a real Cassin’s Kingbird and he acknowledged the difference. We had
remained good friends throughout the kingbird difficulty, but I was feeling
uneasy and very glad to finally find the genuine species. The two species
are similar.

     I was pleased to see my first Juniper Titmouse. Why was I not excited?
Many years ago I saw my first Plain Titmouse and was excited even though the
name says it all. If you think the Tufted Titmouse is plain, look at the
Plain Titmouse. It is all gray, just gray, but that is not the reason for my
blasé reaction. A number of years ago the Taxonomic Committee of the
American Ornithologists’ Union decided, by vote of the committee, that the
Plain Titmouse was actually two species the Juniper Titmouse and the Oak
Titmouse. Given the location of my initial sighting of the Plain Titmouse,
it had become an Oak Titmouse and I had now seen the Juniper Titmouse a new
species for me, at least based on the recent decision of the AOU. 

 

 

     October 28th: “Ornithophilous Plants” - Bob Harter, Delaware County
resident

     Native plant expert Bob Harter will discuss a dozen plants that will
attract nectar-loving hummingbirds to your garden. 

 

     November 18th: “The Microbial Ecosystem in Avian Plumage” – Cody M.
Kent – OWU student and works as the lab assistant for the Ornithology class

 


______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2