Subject: Re: Washington-Banded Cowbird Recovered in San Diego
Date: Dec 30 09:34:25 1998
From: Russell Rogers - rrogers at halcyon.com


Hello folks,

Well that is certainly good news to wake up to. It is ironic that a
cowbird would be the first of my birds recovered out of state, in that
when I was catching them, I kept thinking that I would rather feed them to
my pet ball python! I must admit, I am glad that I didn't. Now we have one
more little bit of information about the life history of these birds.

This bird was one of only 11 cowbirds that I caputured on my study site
(5 adult males, 5 adult females, and one chick of unknow sex).

I caught the bird on 21 May 1997, and recaptured it in a different net in
the same area on 25 May 1997. I did observed the bird at various times in
the breeding season, but I don't have that data at hand, so I can't give
you the details of the last time that I saw it. I assume that the bird
laid its eggs in the nest of some of the other birds that I was monitoring
in the area. I don't know for sure because female cowbirds don't have
brood patches like other species that incubate eggs in the nest.

In addtion to the learning that cowbirds will migrate great distances from
where they breed I am also glad to learn that the color bands that I put
on it were still there (I assume they were still there). I am was not
certain how long they would hold up on a bird with a strong bill like a
cowbird. The only species that I know as lost color bands that I have put
on are Spotted Towhees. Even then, I have only recorded a lost band once.

It is strange to note that I have left the Pacific Northwest only once by
airplane (other than trips home for the holidays). The trip that I made
was also to San Diego! Coincidence????


Russell


On Tue, 29 Dec 1998, Jon. Anderson and Marty Chaney wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> Just got a report from the US Bird Banding Laboratory regarding a
> Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) that was banded by my
> banding sub-permittee, Russell Rogers back in 1997.
>
> Not having yet contacted Russell, I am uncertain of the specifics of the
> banding information, but can give y'all the basics. The bird was banded
> on 21 May 1997 as AHY-F ("after hatching-year" i.e.,hatched in 1996
> or before, female) at McChord Air Force Base about 2 miles west of
> Spanaway, Pierce County. Russell had marked this bird with auxillary
> colored leg bands (yellow over yellow on the left leg, yellow over the
> metal federal band on the right) as part of his on-going studies there.
>
> The bird was re-captured and released during the banding activities of
> Mr. Jeff Wells, TW Biological Services in San Diego, California along
> the San Diego River on 19 April 1998.
>
> I will contact Mr Wells to determine what information he might
> have collected on this bird, and what his banding operation in San
> Diego is all about. I'll let the list know the results of my inquery.
>
> Jon. Anderson
> Olympia, Washington
> festuca at olywa.net
>
>