Stuart MacKay wrote:

"This brings to mind the case of a River Warbler which turned up in
Shetland, (islands about 250km north of mainland Scotland) in 1967 (I
think). The first record for the UK and possibly western Europe, it
drew lots of attention from birders in the area. I thinks its nearest
breeding sight is northern India/Siberia - to give you an idea of how
far it was off course - 6000km or so.

The birds was feeding in a garden - closely observed by the half
dozen or so birders - remember this took place almost in birding
pre-history ;-) The bird disappeared for a few minutes. Next thing
one of the local cats came trotting across the lawn, three guesses
what it had in it's mouth !!!!! Once the birders got over the shock,
the cat was promptly chased, caught and the bird extracted.
Unfortunately it was too late. A sad end for a bird which had flown
all the way across Asia Minor, Europe and the treacherous North Sea."

I'd like to tender a slightly different viewpoint, although I don't want to
model it after the "death of a siskin" episode, and I sympathize with the
birders who were subjected to either experience. I don't like to see a bird
die, and I've seen numerous times both the sick siskin on the feeder and
the unsuspecting bird in the cat's mouth, as well as just about all the
other ways birds die. But I would like to question the "sad end" part just
a little. And, for your memory bank, Stuart, the new book on rare birds of
Britain and Europe lists the species from Fair Isle, Shetlands, on 6 Oct
1955 (with a subsequent record from Whalsay Island, 23 Sep 1971).

I hope the River (now called Thick-billed) Warbler was taken to a museum
and preserved as a specimen, so (a) the identity of a bird so far out of
range could be certainly confirmed (not that I doubt the abilities of
British birders for a second, but specimens *are* a more positive
confirmation than either photographs or sightings), (b) its sex and age
could be determined with certainty, perhaps of interest in learning about
the causes of vagrancy, and (c) aspects of its condition and health (before
the cat got it) could have been determined--molt, weight, fat, stomach
contents--again to see how a vagrant fares when it's so far off course.

Finally, this species has two subspecies, and identifying the specimen to
subspecies would have given us a better idea of its source--farther east or
west in its breeding range. In addition, taking tissue from such a bird
for DNA analysis (not possible then, of course) may allow us to pin down
the area of origin of such birds even better than analysis of subspecies.

I say this for two reasons. First, because I think the probability of that
bird ever getting back to its breeding grounds was vanishingly small. If I
am right, it was destined to live out its remaining days (remember, most
high-latitude songbirds live only 1-3 years) in a place quite foreign to
it, no matter where it went from the Shetlands. So, while acknowledging
that the experience was sad for the birders, I hope to dispel the idea that
it was sad for the bird. But my second reason is that I'm a little sorry
that birder pressure has entirely put a stop to the collecting of vagrant
birds, which was one of the many ways we learned about nature. (I haven't
seen the postings about vagrant collecting on BIRDCHAT, but I've taken part
in debate about this over the years).

Just another opinion on the network.....

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416