The Changing Seasons:
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TED FLOYD • 2009 SOuTh FOrk DrIve, LAFAYeTTe, COLOrADO 80026 • ([email protected])
hy are we so fascinated by birds? many of us, this point of view is eminently was a profoundly important distinction be - Well, there are all the stock an - reasonable. It is self-evident that the Bald Ea - tween natural (or “native”) species and com - Wswers: we delight in their brilliant gle in the snowstorm “counts,” whereas the munities versus introduced (non-native) colors and beautiful songs; we marvel at their bird in the zoo emphatically does not. Those ones. The distinction wasn’t merely academic. trans-hemispheric migrations; we under - are extreme examples, I realize, but what of It was also a value judgment. Supposedly nat - stand, as Roger Tory Peterson did, that “the observation of birds leads inevitably to envi - ronmental awareness.” All these things ring true, I suspect, for those of us—readers of this journal—who consider ourselves to be field ornithologists with a particular interest in avian population biology. And there’s something else—something simpler, but also deeper and I think truer. We’re fascinated by birds because they are emblems of freedom. The sight of a Bald Ea - gle flying through falling snow; a Peregrine Falcon circling the lonely rimrocks; the sea - son’s first Osprey sailing past the hawk - watch—those things stir us so. Such experi - ences are utterly and completely different from, say, a Bald Eagle in a cage at the zoo, a Peregrine on display at a nature center, or an Osprey being fed by a rehabber. I’m belabor - ing the obvious, I realize, but I want to be crystal clear: we like our birds wild and free. In a similar vein, we like our bird popula - tions to be somehow “natural,” even “native.” We’re not terribly impressed by Mute Swans in the back bays of Long Island or Purple Figure 1 . In summer 2010, the release of 140 or more rehabilitated Louisiana-origin Brown Pelicans in Georgia (here near Swamphens in the marshes of South Florida. Brunswick, 29 June) offered a small bright spot in what was a terrible season for victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Photograph by Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Indeed, our government wildlife agencies have attempted to eradicate such popula - the vast gray area in between? What of a suc - ural species and communities were held in tions. They’re ostensibly bad for the environ - cessfully rehabilitated Bald Eagle reintroduced higher esteem than their supposedly non-nat - ment, after all. But isn’t there something else back into the “wild”? What of an entire eagle ural counterparts. Back in the 1970s, you did - at play here, some measure of ornithological population that has benefitted from the direct n’t get grants and tenure for studying urban xenophobia, some degree of preferential and indirect interventions of wildlife man - ecology or human ecology. treatment for “our” birds? agers, conservation biologists, and govern - That’s all changed. The ultimate expression of this belief, if ment regulatory agencies? What of Barnacle Biologists and other scientists today accept you ask me, is the decree that restrained, non- Geese and White-cheeked Pintails, or rehabil - that there’s no such thing as a pristine, natural native, and otherwise “unnatural” birds and itated seabirds released far from their point of ecosystem, untouched by humans. Melting bird populations simply do not “count.” To so capture, or doves and other gamebirds that glaciers, the ocean awash with garbage, the represent a complex genetic mélange? De - upper reaches of our atmosphere—even those FACING PAGE: This adult Nutmeg Mannikin, photographed 13 pending on our personal comfort levels, such environments show the unmistakable finger - September 2010 in Los Angeles County, California, does not birds and bird populations either do or do not print of human alteration. And it’s not as if any “count.” The species does not appear on the ABA Checklist . And as if to emphasize its artificialness, the bird is wearing a “count.” of this is especially new. Biological anthropol - band—a sure sign of meddling by humans. Yet the Nutmeg A bit of cultural history. It was back in the ogists tell us that the supposedly pristine nat - Mannikin population of southern California is fascinating. 1970s that we North American birders for - ural communities of the Americas were being Originally from southern and southeastern Asia, Nutmeg mally established a wall of separation be - powerfully transformed by humans thousands Mannikins are apparently expanding their range and in - tween “countable” and “non-countable” birds of years before the European conquest. creasing in number in and around Los Angeles County. In this and bird populations. We were caught up in There is no “balance of nature.” That was “Changing Seasons,” we are exhorted to pay more attention to such “exotics”—and to examine assumptions about the the ecological spirit of the times. Most profes - a pleasant fantasy for the middle decades of wildness and naturalness of “our” own bird populations, sional biologists in North America—especial - the twentieth century. Ever since humanity many of which show signs of human tinkering as extensive ly those pioneers in the emerging field of aca - got serious about technology and civiliza - as the mannikins’. Photograph by Alex Viduetsky. demic conservation biology—held that there tion, hundreds of generations ago, the bio -
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Birds of summer 2010: Which ones count? Conservation biologists are killing Mute Swans established in the Middle Atlantic and Great Lakes regions. (Note that “controlling” is not the correct word here, as it implies a population-level achievement that we cannot meaningfully assess for years or decades to come—if ever.) Recent killings resulted in re - duced numbers this past summer at a few well-birded spots in Delaware and New York, and the species once again went undetected as a breeder in Maine. (But one wonders how much longer!) There have been other reduc - tions: Virginia’s coastal population has been mostly eradicated, and Maryland’s recent counts represent a fraction of those from the 1980s (E. S. Brinkley, pers. comm.). The species continues to make inroads elsewhere. In Ohio, 19 individuals were noted at four sites away from the known breeding range in that state. Meanwhile, free-flying birds con - tinue to be noted in Brevard County, Florida, where breeding occurred in 2009. The popu - Figure 2 . On 22 July 2010, this juvenile Blue-footed Booby was found walking behind the united States Fish and Wildlife lation-level impacts of Mute Swans on “na - Service office in Yuma, Arizona, which is adjacent to open, flat creosote desert. This image was taken that day at one of the tive” waterbirds will continue to be studied— Service’s holding pens (typically used for wayward Brown Pelicans). The booby was rehydrated and transferred the following and debated—by conservation biologists, day to the Sony Bono National Wildlife refuge in California. Apparently, it was later released on the refuge at the Salton Sea. Photograph by Susanna Henry/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. probably for decades to come. Whereas Mute Swans are standard-issue logical systems on Earth have been in a con - not shared by all—that there is a powerful Eurasian exotics in most people’s eyes, the sit - dition of imbalance and instability. causal linkage between what we birders uation with Trumpeter Swans is more nu - How has this come to pass? Most of us can “count” and what we care we about. As soon anced, as the species is known to have win - cite a laundry list of causes: overhunting, as a bird species becomes countable, whether tered in eastern North America into early clear-cutting, mining, agriculture, acid rain, it’s a Cackling Goose or a Common Myna, colonial times. The question of whether the greenhouse gases, habitat fragmentation, in - birders get fired up about it. Knowledge in - historical breeding range of the species ex - dustrialization, urbanization… Yes, if you creases. Action results. And the converse: I tended east of the central Great Lakes is con - want to get a grant today, go and do research would wager that there is less knowledge— troversial (Shea 2002, Whan and Rising on urban ecology and human ecology. and therefore less concern and less action— 2002), and field ornithologists argue over And there’s another factor, both symptom today among rank-and-file North American whether to call the eastern populations “in - and cause. Ecologists call it “homogeniza - birders about, say, White-winged Juncos and troduced” or “reintroduced.” Whatever one’s tion”—basically, the idea that Earth’s ecosys - Black Francolins than when those birds were position in the debate, the birds have arrived, tems and landscapes are increasingly domi - countable.) their range is expanding, and their population nated by such organisms (and their genomes) Anyhow, a major focus in this installment shows no sign of stabilizing. Scattered small as Mute Swans, Mallards, Eurasian Collared- of “The Changing Seasons” will be on exotics, numbers were noted from Manitoba to Doves, and Common Mynas. species that rarely take center stage in this es - Québec, with the first breeding record for the Certainly the view of most academic ecolo - say. My conception of exotics will be broad in - Ottawa, Ontario area and the second breeding gists is that anthropogenic ecological homog - deed. I’m thinking not only of species, what - record for eastern Manitoba. Pushing south, enization is a bad thing. But that doesn’t mean ever those are, from elsewhere, but also of breeders were noted from Nebraska’s Hall we should pretend that the phenomenon populations and even genes from elsewhere. County to New York’s Finger Lakes region; in doesn’t exist. We shouldn’t sweep the problem Yes, even genes. We’ve known for more than between, two to five Trumpeters were noted under the rug by decreeing that introduced, a third of a century now that the “gene’s-eye at two Ohio locales. And within the undis - escaped, and otherwise “non-native” bird view” provides the clearest picture of popula - puted historical breeding range, the species populations somehow don’t “count.” On the tion-level phenomena (Dawkins 1976). And continues to recover. For example, Trumpeter contrary, we ought to be especially knowl - we’ve known for more than a century and a Swans recently resumed nesting in eastern edgeable and vigilant about such bird popula - half that the concept of the “species” is one of Washington, where they had been absent as tions—which I shall hereinafter refer to as convenience (Darwin 1859). The complexity breeders for nearly two decades. “exotic.” I don’t particularly care for the word, of gene flow among bird populations, with If you own a copy of the fourth edition of but it beats the pants off the misleading and and without human involvement, is often A Field Guide to the Birds (Peterson 1980), value-laden “non-native.” It will have to do. poorly reflected in our relatively rigid taxo - check out the range map for Canada Goose . (I note in passing that I am of the belief— nomic categories. Wow. It’s amazing what can happen in 31
550 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS THE CHANGING SEASONS: ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM
Hawaii to New Zealand and be - absolute sense, than ever before. Think of rice yond, the genomes of Mottled production in Asia. And think of all the mi - Ducks, Hawaiian Ducks, and gratory geese now “shortstopping” in the agri - Pacific Black Ducks, respec - cultural districts of central North America.) tively, are increasingly being Gray Partridge populations appear to be in invaded by Mallard genes. overall decline in North America. The harvest Worldwide homogenization of from Nebraska is down 97% since 1987, and the genome of the Mallard su - there was only one report this past summer perspecies complex shows no from Wisconsin. What is the cause of the sign of slowing down. Mallards population loss? Is it changing practices with are exploding in the Mexicali regard to stocking and hunting? Is it the on - Valley of northeastern Baja Cal - going decline of “traditional” agriculture? Or ifornia, with the highest num - is it intrinsic population variation, as implied bers ever reported this past by Southern Great Plains regional editors Joe summer. Why the dramatic in - Grzybowski and Ross Silcock? crease? Two likely causes are Ring-necked Pheasant numbers continue the proliferation of wastewater to plummet in parts of the Midwest. This past treatment facilities within the summer, the Iowa Department of Natural Re - Mexicali Valley proper (R. A. sources tallied the lowest count on record. Erickson, pers. comm.) and re - Oh, well. The pheasant is just an introduced cruitment from the nearby Im - “chicken,” a plaything for hunters. That’s perial Valley of southern Cali - true, but consider the cause of the decline in fornia, where Mallard numbers Iowa. Could it be the oft-mentioned and have increased substantially in much-lamented decline of “traditional” agri - the past decade, probably due culture in the Midwest? Another possibility, to releases by the California according to regional editor Jim Dinsmore, is Department of Fish and Game that the disappearance of grasslands likely lies Figure 4 . This immature Peregrine Falcon observed 23-26 (here 23) July 2010 (G. McCaskie, pers. comm.). behind the pheasant’s misfortunes; and that is near La Mata, Oaxaca and an adult seen nearby on 25 July 2010, are probably Tufted Duck is a rare annu - relevant to conservation and management of, part of an increasing resident population in the state. It is unclear whether these al visitor to North America, say, prairie-chickens. It’s important for con - and other “city” Peregrines are progeny of reintroduction programs in the united mainly from fall to spring. But servation ornithologists to pay attention to States. Photograph by Jorge Montejo. summer records are unusual, exotic fowl, which may well be indicators of years. Habitat change is a part of the story, but so reports last June from New Brunswick and ecosystem health. so is “wildlife management” (moving genes Washington were headline makers. In the We call them Wild Turkeys, in distinction around, basically) and possibly a “pre-adapta - past, such reports might have raised the red from their Butterball ® brethren. But let’s not tion” of Canada Geese for human-altered flag of escape from captivity, as Tufted Ducks kid ourselves. State and provincial wildlife landscapes. To be sure, the status of the are widely held in zoos and species in almost every region north of Mexi - other collections. Today we’re a co and the Caribbean is an unfolding story. little more relaxed about es - For example, Canada Goose is a “review caped waterfowl (it happens, species” in Louisiana, reflecting the Louisiana get over it), even as we are Bird Records Committee’s current uncertainty coming to recognize that myri - about the occurrence of “wild” birds in that ad other anthropogenic factors state (Cardiff 2009). Nevertheless, this sum - may contribute to extralimital mer’s report from Alabama includes a record- records of ducks, geese, and high count for the Gulf Coast region of that swans: everything from tem - state—163 at the Mobile municipal park 25 perature increases at high lati - June. These were presumably not “wild” mi - tudes to massive supplemental grants from northern breeding areas, but they feeding courtesy of tur - are not flagged as problematic in the regional bocharged high-yield agro- report. Do we benefit from attempting to seg - ecosystems. (Astute readers regate the “wild” from the exotic in such con - may be aware that some of texts, when one consequence of doing so is these modern methods are sub - that we sacrifice important data on the latter? stantially more efficient than Globally, the saga of Mallards has been older ones, resulting in far less even more astounding than that of Canada “waste” grain per unit effort Figure 3 . This juvenile Merlin, one of three that fledged at Chappaquiddick Is - Geese. These days, Mallards can be found over than used to be the case. But land, Martha’s vineyard, Massachusetts (here 23 July 2010), continued to mark much of the planet. And it’s not just individ - their massive overall produc - this the southernmost known nesting locality of the species in New england. ual, “unitary” Mallards, but also their genes. tivity overwhelms that effect, What was presumably the same pair nested at this location in 2008. Photograph From the southeastern United States to resulting in more surplus, in an by Lanny McDowell.
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“wild”—although one wonders if that grand inland sea is in any sense “natural.” Would such a bird then “count” more or less than a Louisiana pelican brought to Georgia? Or a Red-footed Booby that so enjoyed its Miami spa treatment that it often returned to the vicinity of its rehab to roost for six months, as happened in 2010? The means by which Cattle Egrets reached the Americas in the late 1800s is unknown; the most frequently invoked explanation is that of “self-introduction.” But why didn’t it happen much earlier? The consensus is that the advent of extensive clear-cutting and cat - tle ranching in South America were the pre - requisites for establishment by this species. The rest is history. Like invading Southern Lapwings, Eurasian Collared-Doves, and House Sparrows, Cattle Egrets achieved suc - cess by colonizing human-altered landscapes. Figure 5 . This third-cycle Great Black-backed Gull was discovered 21 July 2010 on Dauphin Island, Mobile County, Alabama by Interestingly, the Cattle Egret invasion has a visiting birder involved in oil spill response work. even though the species has become more regular at this location in re - stalled and even reversed somewhat in the cent years, this image documents the state’s first record in the month of July. Photograph by Lisa Hug. northeastern United States. The species used agencies swap meleagridid genes in the same bobwhite has not. This past summer, North - to breed in New England, where there were manner that boys once traded baseball cards. ern Bobwhites were once again character - only three sightings (from Connecticut) this And in a manner that recalls the successes of ized—by several regional editors in the Mid - past summer. Cattle Egrets have declined Canada Geese, Wild Turkeys have proven re - west—as some combination of scarce, declin - sharply in the Hudson–Delaware region, too; markably well adapted (or pre-adapted) to ing, and withdrawing. only at a colony on Pea Patch Island (in human-modified landscapes—especially east - Brown Pelicans are well known for their ca - Delaware Bay) were substantial numbers not - ern suburbs and cities in the case of the pacity for dispersal, even to sites far inland. ed. Why the reversal of fortunes for the Cattle turkey. Wild Turkeys are filling in the gaps in Humans disperse Brown Pelicans, too. It is Egret in the Northeast? The matter has not the wilder portions of North America, too. heartwarming to read of the release of more been formally studied, but it is worth noting The mountains of Alabama got their highest than 140 rehabbed Brown Pelicans at coastal that much of the region is undergoing a well- summer count—22 birds at Oak Mountain Brunswick, Georgia (Figure 1). The birds, vic - documented recovery of wooded habitats— State Park—this past summer. tims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, had precisely the opposite of what is required by The Canadian stronghold for California dispersed over a wide area by the end of July. invading Cattle Egrets. Quail is the Okanagan Valley, but small num - In theory, we birders may have to worry for Glorious and officially uncountable, Cali - bers were reported this past summer farther the next several years about the “countability” fornia Condors would most assuredly be ex - east in the British Columbia’s Pend-d’Oreille of pelicans in Georgia; in reality, it is safe to tinct were it not for massive human interven - Valley. And that raises a question: is the say that all of us are cheered by this success tion starting in the 1980s. The species is a species “native” to Canada? As far as we can story. Much farther south, the sight of a Brown paradox: it is one of the great icons of the un - tell, the historical range of California Quail Pelican in downtown San José must have been spoiled wilderness of western North America, extended no farther north than southern Ore - impressive; the species is practically unknown yet it is one of the most intensively managed gon (Leopold 1977). The first introductions inland in Costa Rica. One might wonder, in creatures in the history of life on Earth. For (to Vancouver) were back in 1860-1861, such a case, about the possibility of escape the fourth straight year, condors nested in however, and the species had reached the from captivity, but recent inland records from Baja California’s astonishing Sierra San Pedro Okanagan Valley by 1912 (Long 1981). It’s a Mexico and Guatemala might indicate an in - Mártir—where elevations exceed 10,000 feet bit of a stretch to say that a population estab - cipient trend, such as has been seen in the (3000 meters). The Mexican population is, of lished for at least 150 generations (3000-4000 Lower 48 states for more than a decade. In course, being carefully monitored—by an ex - “human” years) is “non-native.” The birds are such cases, we must confess that we really tensive team of Mexican biologists and their part of the British Columbian avifauna, with don’t know where the bird came from. colleagues at the San Diego Zoo. no need for an asterisk (or dreaded “E”). As if to make a clear point about the blur - Well past the middle of the twentieth cen - Northern Bobwhites , like Wild Turkeys, ry distinction between wild and not-wild, an tury, we shot raptors (because they’re preda - have long been popular with hunters in North apparently stressed juvenile Blue-footed Boo - tors, that’s bad) and poisoned them with DDT. America. And both have been the “beneficia - by walked right up to the U. S. Fish and For the past several decades, though, we’ve ries” of extensive meddling by wildlife biolo - Wildlife Service’s rehabilitation pens (used for been working to restore raptor populations— gists. But populations of the two species are pelicans) in Yuma, Arizona, waiting for serv - with generally felicitous outcomes. For more trending in opposite directions. Whereas the ice (Figure 2)! After getting food, water, and than a human generation now, it has been de wily turkey has prospered in human-modified medical attention, it was taken to the Salton rigueur for every lakeside or seaside hamlet to environments, the apparently less-adaptable Sea in California and released back into the put out a nesting platform for Ospreys , and
552 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS THE CHANGING SEASONS: ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM
translocation projects in the Midwest contin - ue to bear fruit in many locales. The species has responded so splendidly to human assis - tance, and to some countries’ bans on DDT, that it may be expanding its winter and breed - ing ranges beyond the former historical lim - its. This past summer, two Osprey nests were active near Ensenada, Baja California—in an industrialized zone, of course. Nesting was first reported there in 2002. Farther south, an Osprey was noted at Isla San Andrés (off the coast of Nicaragua), not considered at present to be within the breeding range of the species. Broken record alert. Once again, Bald Ea - gles continue their astonishing recovery. The breeding population in New York has quadru - pled in the past decade; New Jersey added 11 more known nests this past summer; nest sites in Delaware are up 50% in just two years; the greater Toronto, Ontario area got its first breeding record; fully 88 of Iowa’s counties Figure 6 . The lack of a black neck ring and the dark iris indicate that this eurasian Collared-Dove at ketchikan, Alaska 22 July now host nesting Bald Eagles; occupied terri - 2010 was a juvenile. Nesting has yet to be documented in Alaska, but the presence of fresh juveniles in Alaska suggests that the species breeds there. Photograph by Kathy M. Ripley. tories in Kentucky have doubled in the past five years; all of New Mexico’s known eyries mering Merlins were noted in five southern must be counted as one of the most problem - were successful in 2010; and so forth. And it Minnesota counties and at two locales in east - atic success stories in the annals of “wildlife” must have been impressive to watch 46 Bald ern Oregon. management on the continent. Eagles migrating northward past Derby Hill, We all know the mantra: hybrids don’t Steve McConnell, regional editor for Ala - New York—on the surprisingly late date of 16 “count.” Neither do recently established pop - bama and Mississippi, offers the following June. Government “game,” “fish,” and “wild - ulations of exotics; you have to wait a few sage advice: “The appearance of Herring Gull life” agencies can take much of the credit for years. So it is with many North American × Kelp Gull hybrids on the Alabama coast now the current and projected good fortunes of this populations of Peregrine Falcon . Think of all dictates that observers carefully look over all nongame species. those Peregrines flying around East Coast dark-backed gulls to confirm initial impres - Crested Caracaras get around. This past cities; the odd Peregrine straying or lingering sions and test assumptions.” Then he notes summer, caracaras strayed north to far north - far to the south in the summer months; and that photographs of a dark-mantled gull at ern California and to Montana. (Idaho’s first even Peregrines passing our coastal and Dauphin Island proved to be a third-cycle was in late 2009, by the way.) The escaped- ridgetop hawkwatches come autumn. Among Great Black-backed Gull, Alabama’s first bird bugaboo (escaped from where?) used to them are many pigeon-eating, skyscraper- record for July (Figure 5). But let’s return to be invoked for extralimital Crested Caracaras, nesting, mixed-taxon hybrids of decidedly those Herring Gull × Kelp Gull hybrids. What although not for any of the aforementioned non-local parentage. The results of Peregrine are they? Donna Dittmann and Steve Cardiff records. In Middle America, meanwhile, “reintroduction” efforts have been spectacu - have christened them Chandeleur Gulls . Such Crested Caracaras are very much on the lar. And the upshot is a biological novelty, a birds were first noted on Louisiana’s Chan - move, and their movements are assumed to creature that didn’t exist until the late twenti - deleur Islands, far from the breeding grounds be related to anthropogenic habitat change in eth century. This past summer, it was, as usu - of either parental species. Although they’re the region. One was sighted on two dates in al, all good news for these known or suspect - “just” hybrids, these Chandeleur Gulls are fas - July in the Toledo district of Belize. ed “pseudogrines” (sensu Dunne 1986). Typ - cinating, providing us with intriguing insights The situation with Merlins is fascinating. ical were the reports of birds nesting in urban into the role of hybridization in the origin of Unlike various other raptor species, the feisty districts from Richmond, Virginia to Ontario’s species (Dittmann and Cardiff 2005). Hybrid Merlin has not been the beneficiary of a re - southern megalopolis and beyond—even to origin might have played an important role in covery effort. Yet the species is undergoing a Oaxaca City (Figure 4). From New York, we everything from the evolution of the cismon - remarkable southward range expansion. Its receive news that productivity is greater on tanus (“Cassiar”) subspecies of Dark-eyed recent colonization of urban and suburban human structures than in wilder settings in Junco (Miller 1941) to the origin of Pomarine habitats—on both the wintering and breeding the Adirondacks and elsewhere; frustratingly, Jaeger, which may have come into existence as grounds—seems to be the key to recent suc - five cliff nests in the “natural” setting of New a result of contact between Great Skuas and cesses. This past summer, Merlins nested Jersey’s Hudson River Palisades produced no Parasitic Jaegers (McCarthy 2006). Far from again at Chappaquiddick Island, Massachu - young for the second year in a row. The being genetic dead-ends, hybrids can in fact setts (Figure 3); in the lowlands of central and breeding season was rated as record setting in power speciation. As Dittmann and Cardiff western New York; within the Toronto city Kentucky, where 13 pairs produced 23 chicks, (2005) tell it, the Chandeleur Gull story is limits and elsewhere in southern Ontario; in all of which fledged. Along with urbanizing evolving, in both senses of the word. Knox County, Ohio; and in Pike and Luzerne Wild Turkeys and genetically aggressive Mal - Avifaunally, Hawaii has to be the most ex - counties, Pennsylvania. Farther west, sum - lards, the hybrid Peregrines of North America traordinary state in the United States. It has
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birds lacking black pigmentation on the outer webs of the outermost rectrices.” Thanks to Adam Byrne and Phil Chu, who bird-dogged and studied these collared-doves at Three Oaks, we have another piece of the puzzle. Collared-doves are here, rather obviously so, and spreading like wildfire; see the S. A. item in the Alaska regional report. But the question of what they actually are remains to be elucidated. In the end, will they be any more or less “countable” than our city- dwelling so-called Rock Doves, now known as Rock Pigeons—of which Patten, McCaskie, and Unitt (2003) memorably write: “referring to these birds as Rock Doves would be equiv - alent to referring to domestic dogs as Gray Wolves in a document on mammals.” These authors refer to them as “Feral Pigeons (Columba ‘livia’ )” instead. What’s in a name, or in punctuation? If we use quotation marks Figure 7 . In Washington County, Alabama, these two White-winged Doves were observed at a feeder 10 July 2010, as the around a species’ English or scientific names, photographer enjoyed his own evening meal. The species continues its steady march northward into Alabama’s interior. does that imply that we demote the bird in Photograph by Matthew Rouse. value somehow, that we decide not to pay more endemics, more extinct species, more now occur in all 99 counties in Iowa, where close attention to its demography, its popula - critically imperiled species, and more estab - they arrived only back in 1997. And a survey tions, its behaviors? And what does such lished exotics than any other U.S. state. For lis - of 144 urban coastal sites in Santa Cruz spurning say of us? ters and field ornithologists alike, Hawaii is County, California, produced 360 individuals; As in recent summers, White-winged where it’s at. When we think of exotics, it’s un - the species was first detected there only back Doves (Figure 7) were reported far north of derstandable to think of the “classic” groups: in 2005. the breeding range. Strays were noted north psittacids, of course, plus doves and ducks, And here’s something to ponder: are “our” to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saint Pierre and a smattering of passerines. But as Pranty birds even Eurasian Collared-Doves? There is et Miquelon, Québec, Maine, New York, (2004) makes clear, representatives of practi - growing sentiment that the Baha mian popula - Ohio, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. Iowa got cally any taxon may be noted as exotics. Case tion—our founder population at in point: the sandgrouse, those taxonomic least in part—has been admixed oddities sandwiched between the orders with African Collared-Dove Charadriiformes and Columbiformes. This (Streptopelia roseogrisea ) or the re - past summer, 36 Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse lated avicultural variety formerly were tallied at one site on Hawaii Island. known as Barbary Dove or as We all saw it coming, but we’re still in Ringed Turtle-Dove ( S. “risoria” ). shock. Any way you slice it, the prolific Smith (1987) noted that Florida Eurasian Collared-Dove deserves “Bird of the colonizers were interbreeding Decade” honors for the North American land - freely with the local Streptopelia , mass and outlying islands. What the collared- which already showed variations dove has pulled off is breathtaking, far ex - in plumage. In recent regional re - ceeding what even the European Starling and ports from Baja California to Puer - House Sparrow were able to accomplish in to Rico, from Alaska to the Mid - the early stages of their invasions of North west, editors have noted “paler” America. The news this past summer has to Streptopelia doves that look most - be the species’ northern incursions, with nu - ly like Eurasians. A small group of merous reports from southeastern Alaska, collared-doves in Berrien County, where breeding apparently has already oc - Michigan, for instance, has been curred (Figure 6), and southern Yukon. New present (and “counted”) since Brunswick and Québec had reports, too, and 2006. But as Peder Svingen writes collared-doves were found at eight or more in his Western Great Lakes report sites across southern Manitoba; in southern this season: “at Three Oaks, Alberta, “they now seem to occupy nearly Berrien... observers following up every human settlement,” according to Prairie on a report from spring found 4 Provinces regional editors Rudolf Koes and apparent hybrid Streptopelia Figure 8 . This Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush, a first for South Dakota and Peter Taylor. Farther south, their numbers showing white or predominantly third for the united States, was in Spearfish Canyon in the Black hills from 10 continue to balloon. Eurasian Collared-Doves white undertail coverts, with some (here 17) July through 19 August 2010. Photograph by Doug Backlund.
554 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS THE CHANGING SEASONS: ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM
its first nesting record, and Colorado had re - ports from eight sites in seven counties. What has triggered the relatively recent population explosion, range expansion, and uptick in va - grancy by the White-winged Doves? It’s as if the species has undergone a sort of “ecologi - cal phase transition,” having been transmo - grified into a full-on invasive. Why? Here’s an idea: approach the question by way of a com - parative study with the ecologically similar Eurasian Collared-Dove. What can we learn by comparing the population dynamics of a recently arrived invading species (Eurasian Collared-Dove) with an indigenous but only recently “converted” invader (White-winged Dove)? Sounds like a fine project for a disser - tation or postdoc on spatial modeling. Warn - ing: Such an undertaking will require special attentiveness to the matter of ecological his - tory. In particular, where are these extralimital White-winged Doves coming from? One theory is that many of the birds dis - persing in the warmer months (mostly May through November) are coming from the Figure 9 . This male Yellow Grosbeak near rodeo, hidalgo County, New Mexico 5 June 2010 provided the fifth New Mexico report but the first away from the middle rio Grande valley. Photograph by Melvin S. Moe. Florida population, which appears to have gotten its start in the early 1960s around nant breeding population was understandably introduced there at some point in the past 25 Homestead, when ten pairs (from Tampico, flagged as “likely a recent escapee” by Florida years (and no later than 2001), and it quickly Mexico, and thus probably of the nominate regional editors Bruce Anderson and Andy became established (P. Salaman, pers. subspecies) were released and began to multi - Bankert. comm.). Based on the Shraders’ records, we ply, followed by several sizable releases of the The hardy Monk Parakeet is the only can say that the Brown-throated Parakeet is species (subspecies and origins unknown) in psittacid that routinely establishes popula - persisting in its new home on San Andrés. the 1970s elsewhere in the state (Stevenson tions in North America north of the southern Purple Martins begin massing for “fall” and Anderson 1994). How many of the va - tier of U.S. states. The species is reported in migration relatively early—in midsummer. grants recorded in the East and Midwest at the hundreds on Christmas Bird Counts in At Auburn, Alabama, a roost of about feeders should be considered the equivalent Connecticut, where it is a widespread breeder 100,000 birds was studied 16-19 July this of Rock (“Feral”) Pigeons or municipal-park in coastal and near-coastal districts. But Monk season; at Wichita, Kansas, perhaps 30,000 Canada Geese? Currently, birders thrill to the Parakeets haven’t been detected as breeders in came to roost 27 July; and at Richmond, Vir - sight of a White-winged Dove well out of Massachusetts—yet. That may be about to ginia, 11,000 were estimated coming into a range, and many avid state listers have change. Three Monk Parakeets tending a nest roost in ornamental pear trees 31 July. How jumped in the car to give chase. Would we in Middlesex County this past summer got many of these hordes had fledged with the as - risk trampling that enthusiasm by taking a pretty darned close to qualifying as the Bay sistance of humans, who erect and maintain closer look at the genetic makeup of such State’s first nesters! Maybe this year. Or—who martin houses all over the East? If you birds? And, in the end, should our reactions knows?—maybe the Monk Parakeets of guessed 100%, you’re probably correct. Al - to individual birds or to “species” be dictated southern New England will follow the same though the two or more western subspecies by a discovery of checkered genetic history or trajectory as the Budgerigars of the west-cen - make use of natural cavities for nesting, the of exotic status? tral Florida peninsula. Exotics keep us guess - nominate eastern subspecies has relied on If you’ve been birding for several decades, ing, and that’s one of the reasons why they’re human hospitality since John James you will no doubt recall that Budgerigar so fascinating. Audubon’s time, and there are almost no (along with Crested Myna) used to be a It’s hard not to notice a stunning green ex - records of martins nesting in a natural cavity “poster child” for the successful establish - otic psittacid on the mean streets of New east of the Rockies since 1900. When one ment of exotic bird populations. The Florida Haven. But what of the very extensive pres - stops to think about the human–martin rela - population may have exceeded 20,000 as re - ence of exotic psittacids within those parts of tionship in the East, it is profound: eastern cently as the late 1970s (Pranty 2001), and the western hemisphere with extant indige - martins depend on us almost completely for the species was assumed by most birders to be nous psittacids, that is to say, much of tropi - their survival. How different the spring and secure. Today, however, the Florida popula - cal America? Such populations might under - summer seasons would be without their tion has declined to fewer than 25 pairs (B. standably be overlooked by many of us—but rolling chatter! Martins are, fortunately, a fa - Pranty, pers. comm.)—and the Crested Myna not by birder-adventurers John Shrader and vorite bird of suburban and rural Americans is altogether gone from its onetime redoubt of Karen Shrader. Exploring Isla San Andrés far and wide, but their populations have been Vancouver Island. Thus, the report of a during the period 8-11 June, they tallied 40 in decline since 1980 (Brown 1997), a trend Budgerigar only 40 kilometers from the rem - Brown-throated Parakeets . The species was whose causes are not known.
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One of the great birds of 2010 was the Or - to climate change. In the old days, vagrants introgression. How do we know that “native” ange-billed Nightingale-Thrush that visited reached faraway destinations by hitching House Finch genes haven’t infiltrated the “ex - Spearfish Canyon, in the northern reaches of rides on oceangoing vessels. These days, they otic” genome—and vice-versa? We don’t. We South Dakota’s wonderful Black Hills, for at may well be accomplishing the same feat via probably cannot. Once again, the quixotic least six weeks (Figure 8). How on Earth did climate change. Let’s not fool ourselves: just goal of distinguishing between “native” and it get there? One hypothesis—which hasn’t as we cannot disprove ship assistance in so “non-native” populations is thwarted by the gotten much traction—is that the bird es - many instances of transoceanic vagrancy, so inconvenient truth of reality. caped from captivity. Um? Like, a retired cou - we cannot rule out anthropogenic climate One of the stranger stories of the past ple just happened to be carrying a nightin - change as a trigger for certain vagrants. Either decade has been the detection of numerous gale-thrush in their recreational vehicle? And way, it’s “unnatural.” (And 2010, by the way, Eurasian songbirds in the Great Lakes region, they decided to ditch the poor bird in tied 2005 as the hottest year in the meteoro - especially around Lake Michigan. This phe - Spearfish Canyon? Next... logical record books, according to the Nation - nomenon—involving Common Chaffinches, Blue-gray Tanagers are very popular in al Climatic Data Center.) Eurasian Siskins, European Goldfinches , and captivity, and birds that escape or are released Another dandy from Arizona this past other species—is apparently the result of de - sometimes establish populations in the wild. summer was a Black-vented Oriole reported liberate releases by cagebird importers in the The species bred at three locations in south - near Willcox in late July. The bird was nei - Chicago area. A recent paper (Craves 2008) ern Florida in the mid-twentieth century, but ther photographed nor found again, so the focused on the apparent ongoing establish - those populations had winked out before the Arizona Bird Committee has its work cut ment of European Goldfinches in the western turn of the century. Farther south, though, out. Presumably, the question of vagrant ver - Great Lakes region. How far have the Chica - one continues to encounter exotic Blue-gray sus captive origin will arise in the course of go releases spread? This past summer, an in - Tanagers. An introduced population flourish - the committee’s deliberations. Let’s pre - dividual of the Asian caniceps subspecies es in Lima, Peru, for example. This past sum - tend—and there is no a priori reason for do - group was found at Chevery, in extreme east - mer, a pair was observed in Yucatán. Were ing so—that this oriole was an escapee from ern Québec, 2300+ kilometers from Chicago. they escapees? Or were they “naturally occur - captivity. Would that lessen its interest or im - If you build it, they will come. So it is with ring”? If the latter, do we classify them as va - portance? Is it not worthwhile to attempt to the sociable House Sparrow , like Purple Mar - grants or simply as birds dispersing from the document the basic population status and tin a well-known example of an avian com - core range a bit to the south? possible ecological impacts of escapees? A mensal—a species that benefits from a host The same questions arise in connection survey of all known exotics in Florida (Pran - (Homo sapiens in these instances) without with Utah’s second Northern Cardinal , ob - ty 2004) revealed the presence of tens of harming that host. Practically every human served in late June near St. George in the thousands of such birds, with populations structure is discovered sooner or later, it state’s extreme southwestern corner. For sure, numbering anywhere from one to well over seems, by House Sparrows. Except in the far cardinals occur in the wild in the northwest - 1000 per species. More than 200 species north. Adventuresome individuals range ern Mojave Desert. But what is their prove - were enumerated by Pranty (2004), and it is north to southern Alaska, but the population nance? Birds found in the general vicinity of easy to imagine that their collective ecologi - remains small, unstable, and peripheral in Las Vegas are viewed by the Nevada Bird cal impact might well be significant. A simi - The Last Frontier. This past summer, at least Records Committee with some amount of lar effort in Arizona (and other borderland a dozen House Sparrows were fledged from trepidation (M. Meyers, pers. comm.). Could states) would surely be worthwhile, and, in three nests in Ketchikan, about as far to the the Utah bird have escaped from a holding in this regard, the 2010 Peach-faced Lovebird southeast in Alaska as you possibly can get. or near Las Vegas? Or did it vagrate from cen - Census Project in the Phoenix metro area What does the future hold in store for the tral Arizona, where the species is of “natural”
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pared to invading House Finches and House Coda coming to realize what’s happened here, Sparrows, the range expansion and popula - Late last year, I traveled to the vibrant Indian what’s been happening here for centuries. We tion increase of Eurasian Tree Sparrow have state of Gujarat. In so many ways, I have to say, stubbornly cling to our neo-Platonic fantasy been a decidedly slow-mo affair. How come? the Gujarati people are exactly like us. They’re that everything has its place and purpose, that The age-old answer of competition with worldly and well educated, they’re increasing - everything can be put into a box, that every - House Sparrows—which happen to be in gen - ly “green,” they’re way “wired,” and they’re su - thing can be assigned to a category. A species eral decline in North America—can’t be the per-diverse. Picture the U.S. state of California is either “native” or “exotic,” in our world only explanation. In their monograph on with about 15 million more people, and you view. A population is either “indigenous” or Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Barlow and Leckie have a pretty good idea of what Gujarat is like. “feral.” Any particular bird is either “count - (2000) tell us that our North American popu - Something else. Birding is all the rage in Gu - able” or not. Such a system is, according to lation of this species “provides an exceptional jarat. I met teen and twentysomething birders Plato’s formulation, “beautiful.” opportunity” to address cutting-edge ques - with the skill set and sophistication to rival that It’s beautiful perhaps, but it’s not reality. tions in contemporary biology. What are we of the finest young birders in North America. I And is it really all that beautiful? Pretend waiting for? met the winsome “elders”—chronological for a moment that we—birders and field or - Would you like to make an immediate and counterparts of our aging boomers. And I met nithologists, ecologists and environmental lasting contribution to field ornithology? And thirtysomething and fortysomething Gujarati scientists—could put aside our conviction while you’re at it, would you like to earn the birders who were discomfitingly just like me. that populations, communities, and ecosys - eternal gratitude of listers everywhere? (And All that said, I did notice one big difference tems are either natural or unnatural. Yes, such the opprobrium of the handful of holdout between them and us. Despite the amazing a change might well necessitate new strategies “NIB” [No Introduced Birds] killjoys?) Then cultural, ideological, and linguistic diversity and tactics for wildlife managers and conser - be the first person to provide formal, pub - of Gujarat, most of its people are united by an vation biologists. But that’s a merely academ - lished documentation of the current status outlook on animal life that is profoundly dif - ic take on the matter. And I respectfully ac - and distribution of Nutmeg Mannikin in ferent from our own. I realize I’m being some - knowledge that such a change would be up - southern California. Scott Smithson reported what simplistic in the following assessment, setting to the great many of us who abide by at the 2006 Western Field Ornithologists but here goes: most people in Gujarat don’t Aldo Leopold’s famous dictum that the world meeting that at least 700 were present in the kill or otherwise harass animals. Hunting is properly consists of things that are wild and Los Angeles basin alone at the end of 1998 practically unheard of. It’s part of a heritage things that are not wild. But bear with me, (
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(A. Poole, ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online:
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