Kathy - Fascinating ... This would make very interesting fodder (meant in a good sense) for state records committees that have to deal with taking position on these issues. Is there any data readily available from the BBL on this topic ... say, if someone (unfortunately, I can't volunteer at this time) was willing to analyze it? For example, are there any species that more commonly are found on ships in ports ... or do any ports (or really maybe shipping lanes?) more commonly attract these ship borne visitors, etc.? Phil At 09:28 AM 02/24/1999 -0700, you wrote: > The Bird Banding Laboratory gets band reports for birds such as > albatross, terns, gulls from shipping vessels. We usually receive > several each year. Most of these are not from US vessels and sometimes > a banded bird will stay with a ship into port and create a very > strange out-of-area encounter. Just thought this would be of interest > in reference to the discussion on ship-assisted birds. > > Cheers, > Kathy > > >______________________________ Reply Separator >_________________________________ >Subject: Ship assisted gulls. >Author: mdosprey@ARI.Net at NBS-Internet-Gateway >Date: 2/24/99 12:21 AM > > >Hello all, > >I thought that Bob Mumfords post regarding ship assisted gulls was rather >informative. Certainly any birder that has spent that much time at sea has a >level of authority that should not be discounted. > >My question is what evidece is there that birds such as gulls are being ship >assisted? Certainly since it is mentioned so often (although not here), there >must be some reason to think it happens. > >Curious, > >Todd Day >Jeffersonton, VA >BlkVulture@aol.com ================================================ Phil Davis, Secretary MD/DC Records Committee home: PDavis@ix.netcom.com Davidsonville, Maryland USA work: PDavis@OAO.com Greenbelt, Maryland USA MD/DCRC Web site: http://www.MDBirds.org ================================================