Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 22:57:31 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mike Callahan Subject: Re: Kinder Park MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Linda, Raptors are known to eat other species of raptor especially those that take avian prey. While hacking raptors into the wild, Great Horned Owl predation can be a serious problem. Many Peregrine introductions have been hampered by GHOW. I have also seen Osprey nestlings (in over water nests) disappear likely due to GHOW. I heard of a case where a Sharpie picked of Robins from a fence to only in turn be picked off by a Coopers while sitting on the fence eating the Robin. When owling, if our three resident forest dwelling owls are present in the same area, it is best to start out calling the smallest owl first ending with the largest species. You are more likely to get a response from an Eastern Screech Owl (ESOW) if you don't start by calling GHOW. Fear of predation would silence me too. Of course if you do make owl calls, knowing when not to use them for fear of disturbing nesting birds is a given. There is nothing more disturbing to me then when birders have no concept of or consideration for disturbing birds and habitat to see a bird. Having taken ornithology and evolution , ecology and behavior at UMCP, and Bill Clark's Raptor Id Class, one birding term more than any other sticks in my mind. It if the use of the term PHASE when describing the color differences in birds of the same species. Phase would more correctly describe the seasonal color changes of a bird like the Willow Ptarmigan. In my mind, phase means that a bird changes from one color/phase to another. A better term to use that would describe the genetic difference in color among the same species would be morph. Morph, short for morphological, has to do with the exhibiting of color differences in a species, such as the red or gray morph or the ESOW. When someone in Bill's class would say phase, he would promptly correct them asking if it changed colors. I am not picking on you Linda, for I explain this commonly used ornithological misnomer to whoever I hear using it. In this era of political correctness, we should strive to be ornithologically correct. Naturally, Mike Callahan On Fri, 18 Feb 2000 15:16:12 -0500 Linda Baker writes: > I stopped by Kinder Park late yesterday afternoon. The only notable > species that I saw were a fox sparrow and a Cooper's hawk. I was > only > there for about an hour and the light was failing rapidly. > > However, I spoke with ranger Dave Farner who filled me in on some > things > I've missed. There have been several American tree sparrows, one > came to a > feeder at the office that morning. Also good numbers of fox > sparrows. > They have seen two eastern screech-owls at wood duck boxes--one a > red phase > bird and more recently a gray phase one. Also the killdeer are > back. > > > Notable in their absence were field sparrows and American kestral. > (Earlier in the season, rangers found a pile of kestral feathers and > also a > pile of sharp-shinned hawk feathers. There was a large Cooper's > hanging > around at the time; it's the suspected culprit. Do raptors often > prey upon > other raptors? Not exactly cannabalistic since they are different > species, but I found this surprising.) > > Linda Baker > quiltbird@annapolis.net > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to > listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================