HI ALL:
Does anyone have the "official" date of the last San Juan Island Sky
larks?

Ian Paulsen
Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
ipaulsen at krl.org
A.K.A.: "Birdbooker"
"Rallidae all the way"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 11:15:55 -0700
From: Jim Rogers <jrogers at POLSON.K12.MT.US>
To: BIRDCHAT at listserv.arizona.edu
Subject: [BIRDCHAT] San Juan skylarks

Hi Ian, Joe, and chatters all,

It was good hearing about the "skylarking" birds on Vancouver Island in Joe's recent posting. Unfortunately, I didn't have such luck last week on San Juan Island where I failed to see or hear any remaining skylarks.

However, I did have the good fortune of observing two Eurasian Skylarks on 26 December, 1998 at American Camp. This is apparently a year later than Ian's report. Perhaps these two individuals were hanger-ons, or late autumn vagrants from Vancouver that remained for the winter on San Juan?

Ian also suggested predation- by possibly foxes- for the skylarks' disappearance on San Juan. This doesn't seem to be enough as the foxes and skylarks have been on the island for some time. And the habitat itself at American Camp, for example, seems to be largely unchanged; that is, the rabbits are still keeping the grass short where the skylarks once nested.

Maybe feral cats? I noticed several last week on various parts of the islands. Can anyone suggest some other possible explanations?

Jim Rogers
Polson, Montana

For BirdChat guidelines, go to
http://www.ksu.edu/audubon/chatguidelines.html
For BirdChat archives or to change your subscription options, go to
http://listserv.arizona.edu/archives/birdchat.html
To contact a listowner, send a message to
mailto:birdchat-request at listserv.arizona.edu