Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 16:23:24 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Gail Mackiernan Subject: Re: Could Red-throated Pipit occur in Maryland? (longish diatribe) In-Reply-To: <15a.264719f7.2cc0c3f6@aol.com> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable Hi Marshall (and all) The thoughts on pipits was interesting, and started me thinking as well --- If I had to bet on which new pipit would be found on the east coast, I woul= d put my money on a Meadow Pipit in either the Canadian Maritimes or New England. This is by far the most common European pipit and breeds abundantl= y in Iceland where virtually the total population [estimated at 500,000 to 1 million pairs] migrates NW across the North Atlantic each spring from England & N.W Europe. This migratory path is quite similar to that taken b= y the Icelandic population of European Golden Plover which has occurred at times in large numbers in Newfoundland. Granted the Golden Plover is a much more powerful flyer and would be better equipped to survive a transatlantic crossing. However, the Meadow Pipit's Icelandic population is substantially larger [Potentially 5x as high as that of the Golden Plover]. My guess is that the same weather patterns that displace the Golden Plover would likely have a similar affect on migrating pipits. Marshall did not mention it but another potential east coast pipit would be the Tree Pipit. While declining, this remains a fairly common European breeding bird and is truly long distance migrant wintering principally in Africa & India. Like the Red-throated Pipit this species has a extremely distinctive flight call sounding quite similar to a European Redwing. Potentially both pipits could join flocks of American Pipits. Marshall mentioned the Rock Pipit but I doubt very much that this coastal species which is principally resident or short distant migrant would be muc= h of a prospective vagrant to the U.S. Even if it did arrive on the east coast, it very likely not be found in flocks of American Pipits due to its very distinct habitat preference. Still if one found a solitary, large smokey-grey pipit poking around the rocks at the Ocean City jetty it may well be the bird of the decade, but I don=B9t think that will happen. Btw, in 1991 Gail and I spent quite a bit of time in California looking for one of the RTPs being seen around Pt. Reyes and vicinity, unfortunately unsuccessfully, but we did see the japonicus American Pipit (a potential split) at Bodega Bay. Cheers, Barry Cooper Silver Spring, MD =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================