Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 09:56:40 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "rick@blazie.net" Subject: Re: Black-capped Chickadee MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dave: I don't think you are suffereing from any misconsceptions. It looks like Bob Ringler answered most of your questions. A small addition: I agree that the Black-capped from the far north are more ditinctive. They are bigger and brighter than the ones from close by and it makes them a bit easier to identify. Rick Eirik A.T. Blom 4318 Cowan Place Belcamp, Md 21017 410-575-6086 rick@blazie.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Mozurkewich" To: Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 12:22 AM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Black-capped Chickadee > Rick et al., > > I'm no expert, especially when it comes to chickadees. But it seems I > must be suffering from some pretty serious misconceptions. Please let me > know where I'm making my mistakes -- I've certainly made enough of them in > this forum in the past. > > 1) Identification. As Rick points out, the chickadee identification > problem is about as hard as they come. But that problem is the hardest > for the birds from the southern part of the Black-capped range, including > the resident birds in western Maryland. I do not even pretend to be able > to tell most of those chickadees apart. But the birds involved in the > chickadee invasions are birds heading south from Canada. And although my > experience with these birds is limited, the further northeast I go, the > more brightly colored the Black-capped Chickadees become. Just as > southern Black-caps resemble Carolinas, northern Black-caps begin to > resemble Boreals. I spent a week in March around the bay of Fundy a few > years ago. The Black-capped Chickadees I saw there -- or at least the > birds I called Black-capped Chickadees there -- pose an identification > problem that is about as difficult as separating Phoebes from Pewees. > Granted, it was the wrong time of year and a small selection of birds from > a small part of the range, but from what I have heard of this discussion > so far, only one species of chickadee is involved. > > 2) Distribution. The wayward chickadees are heading toward the > southwest. This would send them through the northern tier of the state and > through Western Maryland, but since there is nothing to the northeast of > the Eastern Shore or Southern Maryland except open ocean and Europe, the > probability of a Black-capped Chickadee in that part of the state seems > pretty low indeed, except, perhaps, in spring when the birds are returning > to the north. In fact, I was once told the old banding program that ran > for many years in Ocean City was operating through a major chickadee > invasion. The total number of Black-capped Chickadees they recorded was > -- zero. > > 3) Now, if I am not already far enough out on a limb, let me fetch the > saw. I am going to question the entry for Black-capped Chickadee in the > Yellow Book. How many, if any, of the following counties have an > absolutely indisputable record of Black-capped Chickadee: Worchester, > Somerset, Wicomico, Dorchester, Saint Mary's, or Charles? > > Dave > David Mozurkewich > Seabrook, PG MD USA > mozurk@bellAtlantic.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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================