Subject: BIRDXXXX highlights (fwd)
Date: Jun 06 21:42:29 1994
From: "Anthony L. Lang" - tony at ZOO.TORONTO.EDU


At the May meeting of the Toronto Ornithological Club, Fred Bodsworth,
author of "Last of the Curlews", showed slides of a nest found near
Anderson River, Northwest Territories in the summer of 1992. The nest
was found by a geologist who also has an interest in general natural
history. He photographed the nest without being able to identify the
adults, but identified them later from notes he took in the field.
Although he is not a birder or ornithologist, he is certain that the
birds were Eskimo or Little Curlews. He gave the slides and notes to
Fred Bodsworth who set about trying to interest the Canadian Wildlife
Service in looking for the nest. Fred sent copies of the slides to
retired CWS biologist Bernie Gollop, co-author of "Eskimo Curlew - a
vanishing species?" (Saskatchewan Natural History Society Special Publ.
No. 17). Based on these slides, and pictures of Eskimo Curlew eggs in
the Smithsonian, Gollop is convinced that the eggs are of the Eskimo
Curlew (_Numenius borealis_), however the Little Curlew has not been
ruled out. Some authorities, however, think that the Little is
conspecific with the Eskimo Curlew. The nest location is in the same
area from which the only egg specimens of the Eskimo Curlew were taken by
Hudson's Bay Comany employee Roderick MacFarland in the mid 1800s (he
collected them for the Smithsonian). Although the CWS has sent
biologists to the Anderson River area to look for Eskimo Curlew nests in
the past (1970s?), the CWS was not able to follow up this find last summer.
They will have someone in the area this summer who will check the nest
site as well as do other unrelated work.

Those of you who are interested in inspiring young birders should get
them to read "Last of the Curlews". It worked for me. I read the book
when I was 12 years old and started birding right away (looking for
Eskimo Curlews in May in southern Saskatchewan).

====================================================================
Anthony Lang, Dept. of Zoology | "Always keep your
Univ. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A1 | stick on the ice."
tony at zoo.toronto.edu | RED GREEN

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 16:22:00 GMT
From: JOE MORLAN <joe.morlan at HIEAGLE.COM>
Subject: Swifts

DB> According to the checklist compiled by the Badlands Natural
DB> History Association, a white-throated swift was seen
DB> out-distancing a peregrine falcon at an estimated speed of
DB> 250 mph. Date, place, etc. is not provided. I assume that
DB> the speed when being pursued would be far above normal.

This was based on an anecdotal observation of White-throated
Swifts escaping from a stooping Peregrine which was "estimated"
at 200 mph. I looked at this account (which I cannot find right
now) and found it unconvincing. Past published estimates of
flight speed are inaccurate. Radar is the best way to measure
the speed of flying birds. The following is from "Dictionary of
Birds" by Campbell & Lack:

"Considerable popular interest is devoted to records such as
the 'fastest' bird, and to this end many fanciful estimates of
speed have been published. Comparisons of this kind between
species are invidious, but from the table it can be seen that
speeds rarely exceed 20 m/s (72km/h), and doubt must be
expressed over air speeds for steady powered flight much in
excess of this. The fastest speed for any type of flight
probably occurs during the stoop of the Peregrine _Falco
peregrinus_, but no accurate determination of speed has been
made, and it is probably no more than about 50 m/s (180 km/h).
In steady flight the fastest bird reliably clocked as yet is
the Eider _Somateria mollissima_ at 21 m/s (76 km/h); this
bird has the highest recorded wing loading. Contrary to
popular opinion, swifts are among the slowest of birds, as is
consistent with their long, thin wings; speeds for the Common
Swift _Apus apus_ in foraging (6.5 m/s, 23 km/h) are slightly
higher than V(mp), at the expected optimum for an aerial
insectivore; in migration they fly at about 11 m/s (40 km/h),
that is at V(mr).

--Joe Morlan, Albany, CA
Joe.Morlan at hieagle.com.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 14:14:13 LCL
From: "WHITLOCK. PETER L." <WHIT0522 at VARNEY.IDBSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: raptors do not always eat heads first

The avivory discussions last week moved onto various speculations
about raptor eating habits. My observations here are based on a few
years' worth of working with raptors in captivity but only a handful
of observations of raptors in the wild actually eating prey.

First, raptors do not always eat the head first. In fact, anyone
who has cleaned a hawk's cage knows that there are many times when
they do not eat the head at all. They very often remove the head and
drop it on the ground. While they are not averse to going after
pieces dropped on the ground, they do not always bother to retrieve
dropped heads. Bill Klein's note about grackle nutritional needs and
avivory pointed out that nutritional needs can change over a season.
I haven't noticed any seasonal trend in head-eating, but there may
well be one. Or it may change in frequency with respect to some
internal rhythm.

As another chatter pointed out, the killing blow may sometimes be
to the head. Raptors in captivity generally are fed dead prey and
may get used to not needing to bother with the head. Herons, cranes,
loons, and other birds will alternatively strike for the closest body
part or the eyes of an approaching human being. And many people who
keep raptors in captivity feel that large hats or t-shirts with
anything resembling an eye on them are disturbing to the birds. So I
think we can assume that eyes in general are connected
psychologically in bird's minds with living things. (Vertebrate
photoreceptors in general are better at locating eye-shaped and
colored objects than other objects.) And also, that heads in general
have some special importance. In an innate sort of way, it's as if
the birds know that's where the brain is and know what the brain does.

However, the dominant dogma is that raptors generally kill with
their talons and only use their beak to tear food. (An exception:
Falcons may use their specially shaped beaks for snapping necks but
that's beside the point and isn't true of other raptors.) I have
often found that kind of dogma to be wrong with respect to raptors;
there are a lot of misconceptions (e.g., about exactly how keen
eagle vision is) that go on forever. Johnsgard's Eagles, Hawks &
Falcons of North America shows drawings of old studies done by
filming raptors killing various animals and examining
their techniques. I wonder if anyone has analyzed these for head-
striking and the point at which the prey was finally dead.

Another observation I have made in captivity is that generally,
raptors will dive straight for an open wound on the body
preferentially to the head. For this reason as well as many others,
dead mice are often opened up in the chest area in order to stimulate
the appetite of a raptor who is not eating well. This is true
for corvids, owls, and vultures as well as hawks.

Peter Whitlock
Raptor Research Center
Boise State University

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 17:11:35 PDT
From: Mark Crotteau <CROTTEAU at WSUVM1.BITNET>
Subject: Location of Cicely, Alaska

....
While we don't know where Cicely is located, it does appear in the index
of the DeLorme Alaska Atlas & Gazeteer--in the index but not on any of the
maps. The page number cited actually refers to the page in the index on
which the Cicely entry appears.

Mark Crotteau
Pullman, WA

------------------------------