Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2002 09:35:08 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Stan Arnold Subject: Re: Atlas "adoption" question, etc. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks, Walter, I suspect the bird I thought was a young starling was actually a young cowbird. Didn't get great looks, and bill shape seemed to be a big factor in my identification. However, I'm not used to observing hatchlings, and I'm wondering if maybe I was observing some bright (yellow?) coloration along the mouth edging of the youngster that made the bill look much more pointed than it actually was. This is what happened when I was observing fledged Field Sparrows being fed by parents: the bills of the young looked long and pointed, when in reality it was probably the bright mouth lining that gave that appearance. I'm well aware that many young birds have very brightly colored mouth linings to help parents find the mouths in dark nests, and also to help parents determine which youngsters need to be fed next (something like the blood rushing to the mouth of a hungry chick, vice running to the belly of a full one). What an education this atlas project is becoming. Stan Arnold Glen Burnie blackrail@earthlink.net -----Original Message----- From: Walter Ellison To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Date: Saturday, June 15, 2002 10:12 AM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Atlas "adoption" question, etc. >Hi All, > >Stan Arnold asked: >First, an atlas question. I know that if a host bird is seen feeding >a >> young cowbird, then both the host and cowbird are confirmed. What >if a >> Yellow Warbler is seen feeding a noisy young starling? Does that >also >> confirm both species? > >I would say yes. The warbler would not behave this way unless it had >young of its own or had gone through a failed nesting attempt. In my >experience juvenile starlings are usually a bit less speckled than juv >cowbirds. I would describe both of them as mottled with diffuse light >brown spots and streaks. I would have expected cowbird too, the Yellow >Warbler is a favorite cowbird host in spite of its tendency to bury >cowbird eggs. > >Good Atlasing, > >Walter Ellison > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================