[Birdnet] Neotropic Still there

Tue Sep 4 23:22:10 MDT 2007

Connie, Mark, et al.,

To expand on Connie's question...

While I'll admit that a large number of 'southern' strays have been seen in
Utah in recent years, I'd be very cautious in labeling (or rejoicing if
you're a lister) global warming as the main cause.  While certainly
consistent with global warming, there are likely a number of other factors
that are much more important in the appearance of these birds in Utah
recently.   Without actual studies documenting prey base changes, expansion
or loss of breeding habitat, etc., I'd be very uncomfortable attributing any
population 'expansion' as being caused by global warming.

First, birding is a continual learning experience, and I feel with each
generation of birders more knowledge is obtained than lost.  For the most
part, birding knowledge only used to pass via word of mouth and the
occasional publication of state ornithological reports.  The phone RBA came
along and certainly aided in the general awareness of bird movements.
Breeding bird atlases were also initiated in many states, which almost
certainly helped in the understanding of the distribution of birds
throughout much of the country.  But the big whammy is the internet, which
has enabled knowledge to spread WAY more quickly and easily than it ever
has!  How easy is it to keep track of the listservs from all the surrounding
states/regions?  I've certainly become much more aware of birds that are
more likely than others to someday show up in Utah and the places in which
they may do so.  I'm sure dozens of birders on this listserv keep up on
surrounding states' listservs in an attempt to better understand the
distribution and abundance of birds in Utah and the surrounding
region....that just did not happen 20-30 years ago.  I doubt the recent
Boreal Owl reports (and breeding records from the Uintas) are due to the
expansion of the Boreal Owl southward, but birders and wildlife biologists
are exchanging information, and both parties are finally realizing these
birds do indeed breed in Utah...now the question is just how far south?

Maybe even most importantly, where do (and have) most birders in Utah
reside(d)?....the Wasatch Front.  It really has not been until the past
10-15 years that a number (not just one or two) of birders have lived in
places like Cedar City and the St. George vicinity.  While northern Utah
birders have and still do make excursions down to southern Utah, their
number of birding days in the southern half of the state is still quite
small compared to the locals that live down there.  Regardless of skill, the
more days you get out birding, the more 'unusual' birds you will see, and
this has undoubtedly contributed to this.  And the fact that there are now a
lot of birders (some of which are great) that live and bird on a regular
basis all around southwestern Utah, they are undoubtedly going to find some
new birds (including breeders) for the state....particularly since so much
of southern Utah has traditionally been lacking in data and coverage.

Not to pick on Mark, but Painted Redstart records exist from Zion in the
30's and into the 60's and 70's.  While none of these were breeders, I'd be
surprised if none of these birds were associated with some sort of breeding
Utah population.  The first record of Zone-tailed Hawk in Utah came from
1984 in Capital Reef NP....not exactly on the AZ/UT border.  So to me, it's
not too surprising that a population, albeit small, has been discovered
recently ~75-100 miles to the SW in Kolob and Pine Park.  I don't doubt
earlier birders overlooked these hawks at both places.  It's not too hard to
do.  I just think it's premature to say a population has expanded when there
was little to no good data previously at the location.  I think most range
'expansions' are primarily due to more and better coverage of an area rather
than birds actually expanding their ranges.  There are obvious exceptions to
this rule such as Great-tailed Grackle, Eurasion Collared-Dove, etc., but
again, we have good data before and after documenting such expansions....and
these birds are expanding into a niche that did not exist prior to modern
day society.  The UOS still doesn't recognize Winter Wren as a summer
resident (and breeder).  I (and others) have heard more than a dozen in the
past 3 years singing on territory in the Wasatch.  Did we just uncover a
massive range expansion southward due to global warming?  I doubt it.  These
birds were almost certainly overlooked for dozens of years practically right
here in our backyard.  This is why I think so many 'range expansions' are
merely populations that have existed for quite some time and have been
overlooked.  I'm sure we have a lot more left to learn about the avifauna of
this state than most of us think we do.

Also, one more important note is that biodiversity generally increases as
you go towards the equator so there are flat out more possibilities for
first state record birds to the south than the north of us.

Colby

On 9/1/07, Mark Stackhouse < westwings at sisna.com> wrote:
>
> There's been a trend for some years now of birds from southern Utah
> expanding their ranges northward, and, though I don't have hard data,
> I'm pretty sure that the number of state-first records in the last ten
> years, and maybe even "rare" birds seen has been dominated by southern
> Utah reports. It's been a while since we've had a real rarity stray
> from the north.
>
> This is consistent with reports elsewhere in with regards to birds and
> other organisms, and is generally considered evidence of global
> warming. I recently read that the movement northward in North America
> for a broad range of species is about 100 miles in the last 25 years.
> Perhaps even more telling is the "state-first" birds of the last 20
> years in southern Utah that are now regular, breeding species in the
> state, such as Painted Redstart and Zone-tailed Hawk.
>
> Mark Stackhouse
> mark at westwings.com
> 801-487-9453 (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)
> 011-52-323-285-1243 (San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico)
>
> On Sep 1, 2007, at 10:39 AM, Connie McManus wrote:
>
> > Hi, Gang
> > I have a burning question ...
> > I've noticed this year we have had sitings of birds that are usually
> > found south of us -- the painted bunting, this neotropic cormorant and
> > probably others, but these are the two that come to my mind readily.
> > Is this normal from year to year to see the odd bird that is usually
> > found south of UT, or is there an even distribution of rare birds from
> > all compas points? Secondly, with all the flurry about global warming
> > and hotter, wetter or drier, more intense storms weather due to
> > climate change (not to mention forrest/brush fires), could these be
> > reasons why we are seeing these exotic birds?
> >
> > Connie McManus
> > the little ol' lady from cache valley
> >
> >
> > On 8/31/07, Larry Tripp <ltripp29 at hotmail.com > wrote: The Neotropic
> > Cormorant was still there tonight. I got to the lake at about 5:00 pm
> > and looked in the spot where Rick first saw it and it wasn't there. I
> > saw a lot of Cormorants were toward the south end of the Lake so I
> > drove down the road on the west side ( coming from Cedar City it's the
> > first left heading south after passing the lake. I went to 2000 south
> > and drove the dirt road towards the lake parked and walked to the
> > shore line. Looking to the south I first saw the bird on the dike that
> > crosses the lake close to the south end.
> >> Rick showed up shortly after that and the bird had flown to the east
> >> side and was mixed in with a lot of D C Cormorants and White
> >> Pelicans. It took us a while to relocate the bird. When it's in the
> >> open it's pretty easy to pick out but it spent some time back in the
> >> bushes where it's hard to see. We watched it until sunset.
> >>
> >> There's probably 75+ D C Cormorants there but size alone makes it
> >> pretty easy to pick out. There isn't a lot of access spots there so
> >> you definitely need a scope. I'm sure it moves around and may be
> >> hidden at times.
> >>
> >> It's a great bird for the state you better get down and look for it.
> >>
> >> Larry Tripp
> >>
> >> Discover the new Windows Vista Learn more!
> >>
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Connie McManus
> > Nibley, Cache County,
> > Utah_______________________________________________
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