[Birdnet] (no subject)

[Kristin Purdy]

Alisa's is the second report I've seen regarding the population of Mandarin 
Ducks on the east side of Salt Lake City. And although many pairs that are 
known to produce young have been present for a long time, I don't believe 
the species fits the American Birding Association's requirements for an 
exotic to be declared established. The three out of eight necessary 
requirements that the species might not meet are:

There is a more-or-less-contiguous population of interacting or potentially 
interacting individuals, rather than a scattering of isolated individuals or 
pairs.

The population is large enough to survive a routine amount of mortality or 
nesting failure.

A publication, ideally in a peer-reviewed journal or book, describes, how, 
when, and where the above seven criteria have been met.

For the complete list of requirements and an explanation of each, see this 
link:  http://www.americanbirding.org/checklist/exotics.html

Most interesting to me is that the ABA only considers that 17 species fall 
into the category of established exotics, and that the European Starling 
isn't one of them. I find it highly insulting that that species is 
considered a native vagrant based on a specimen found at Shemya Island, 
Alaska. Hmmph. The 'native vagrant' designation is too good for that bird.

Kris
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alisa Quist" <aquist at xmission.com>
To: <birdnet at utahbirds.org>
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 12:21 PM
Subject: [Birdnet] (no subject)


> Regarding the Mandarin Duck report from Mick Riley golf course: There  is 
> a very sizeable population of Mandarin Ducks on the east side of  SLC, 
> particularly the Holladay area. I have an irrigation canal which  runs 
> through my yard, and have had multiple breeding pairs here for  the entire 
> 10 years I have lived here. This spring, I had 9 males and  3 females, the 
> females competing over the three nesting boxes we put  up several years 
> ago. I believe we had at least one successful  nesting/hatching from a 
> nest box. My husbands parents live off  Cottonwood lane, near Cottonwood 
> creek. They have a very large pond  on their property, with another 
> irrigation canal nearby. We have  counted as many as 25 individuals on 
> their pond at one time, and have  seen many Mandarin hens with ducklings 
> every spring for the last 15  years. They have 4 nesting boxes, and at 
> least one duck-made tree- hole nest on their property. I would estimate 
> 50-75 nesting pairs in  the Holladay area alone. We begin seeing them in 
> late Feb., and they  seem to leave the area in late fall.
> I have several photos if anyone is interested.
>
> Alisa Quist
>
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