LETTER NUMBER 1

Greetings Tweets---

I'm Bill Erickson, Doris Erickson's domestic partner and
sometime birder's helper.

I sent you all the following info yesterday, but because I
am inexperienced with posting to the Tweeters website, my
posting was way too long and was therefore bounced for review by
the "list moderator." Not having any idea how many days or
weeks that might take, I canceled that posting. I will take that
letter, break it up into three "LETTERS," and post each in
succession. As noted at the top of the page, this is Letter
Number 1.

I have a very nice photo of Great Tit that I will attach to
the final, very short, letter (No. 3) for those who would like
to have a copy.

As to how our local Great Tit got here: It is my belief
that the most likely candidate is a shipping container. In my
past working life, I occasionally saw small birds fly in and out
of box cars. Occasionally birds get trapped in boxcars, and I
assume containers also. A couple of times, while inspecting
shipments, I saw dead birds on the floors of boxcars. They were
ones that didn't survive the rail journey. In most instances, a
trapped bird won't survive a long trip because they are forced
to go too long without water. However in this day and age, some
containers are moved very quickly from port to port, then on
to the final destination, and then quickly opened and unloaded.
Being in total darkness, the trapped bird probably goes into a
temporary state of torpor, and can thereby perhaps survive two,
three, or possibly even four weeks without water. But you
ornithologists out there will have a better handle on that than
I.
A couple of times, I unloaded plastic wrapped machinery from
containers where the machinery had obviously stood out in the
rain before being loaded and had a few pints of rain water
caught in depressions in the plastic wrap. It seems to me
reasonable that on rare occasions, a bird may survive a fast
voyage.

You may be aware that the AP has quite an extensive on-line
presence. Their website contains a great many currently
newsworthy photos---including simple, human interest scenes.
About two and a half weeks ago, one of their photos was a really
nice one of a Great Tit---which they had misidentified as a
European Goldfinch---sitting on a snow-covered bush in a park in
Europe. I copied the photo, and immediately emailed them the
correct information, and I included some information that I
hoped might help educate them better on birds. The next day,
that photo was gone from the lineup. In letter No. 2, I will
paste a copy of my letter to the AP; and, as noted above, in
Letter No. 3 I will attach a JPEG copy of that photo. You can
cut and paste to your heart's content.

---Bill Erickson



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