Subject: Who Knows?
Date: Nov 7 07:11:16 2003
From: Paul Webster - paul.webster at comcast.net


Speaking of strange arrivals, I'm reminded of the Greater Flamingo that
showed up at the Riekkola Unit of the Willapa NWR and hung out there with
Canada Geese in 1980. Again, this was a bird with good color, and was
thought at the time to be an escaped bird -- though it surely would have
been easy to track an escaped flamingo. The bird then reportedly headed
north with the geese in spring 1981. I've always smiled to myself picturing
the arrival of a flamingo in a flock of geese on the arctic tundra, to the
astonishment of the locals.

Paul Webster
Seattle
paul.webster at comcast.net


----- Original Message -----
From: "Guy McWethy" <lguy_mcw at yahoo.com>
To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 9:06 AM
Subject: Re: Who Knows?


> What about the Chilean Flamingo that showed up on the
> Yakima River delta about 12 years ago, in the summer?
> That one always bugged me for some reason. Stayed
> around for a couple of days. The local paper put a
> picture of it on the front page. No bands on the
> legs. Bright pink colors, so it was getting a good
> diet.
> Most likely an escapee, but who knows? But no bands
> and un-clipped wings on a FLAMINGO??
> But talk about off-course ;)
> Guy
>
> --- Mike Denny <m.denny at charter.net> wrote:
> > Hello All,
> > Where vagrant birds show up and their origins is of
> > great interest to me. So the big question is where
> > on earth did these two come from? How on earth did
> > they end up where they are? With the vagaries of
> > vagrancy being what they are how are we to really
> > discover where these birds originated ? Can we
> > really depend on seemingly established patterns of
> > movement within a species when only one or two
> > individuals stray way off course and pop up in an
> > area where there are no records? I understand that
> > waterfowl present a unique problem when they appear
> > in areas way beyond their normal range due to the
> > fact that many folks collect waterfowl and always
> > seem to loose a few. Why are some vagrant waterfowl
> > deemed good sightings and others instantly declared
> > just interesting?
> > individuals from some far off land, I know we have.
> > Are we safly discounting those species we "Know"
> > just couldn't have arrived on their own power?
> > Later Mike
> >
>
>
> =====
> Guy McWethy
> Renton, WA
> mailto: lguy_mcw at yahoo.com
>
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