Interesting. I have been out of touch with what salvage has come in to the museum for the last 9 years. I wonder if a gap would be noticeable there.
Best, Kevin Kevin J. McGowan, Ph.D. Instructor Home Study Course in Bird Biology Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 k...@cornell.edu 607-254-2452 ________________________________________ From: John and Sue Gregoire [k...@empacc.net] Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 1:54 PM To: Kevin J. McGowan Cc: KHAMOLISTSERV; cayugabirds-l Subject: Re: no intergrade flickers Hi Kevin, I was hoping you would have an input as I didn't remember the details of what was in the collection from when we spoke of this several years ago. There have been a few studies refuting the diet hypothesis but I tend to lean that way myself for all the reasons you mentioned; perhaps a specific species of honeysuckle is at play as was hypothesized for Cedar Waxwings. The Intergrade call on flickers is mandated by the banding lab when any of the feather shafts show red. In this case it was a single shaft but over the years we've had many birds showing red in as many as six primary shafts. Body plumage is as you said with a few exceptions where we've noted graying in the face and some mottling in the mustache. None of that was very definitive and other characteristics that would be red-shafted are also not apparent. After handling a slew of them for several years running we hit a three year gap. This was the first red-shafted specimen we've had since. I had thought the phenomenon was over. If anything the invasive honeysuckle has burgeoned over that same period making one wonder a bit about the diet hypothesis. Thanks for adding to the discussion. Best, John -- John and Sue Gregoire Field Ornithologists Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory 5373 Fitzgerald Road Burdett,NY 14818-9626 Website: http://www.empacc.net/~kestrelhaven/ "Conserve and Create Habitat" On Fri, April 30, 2010 11:00, Kevin J. McGowan wrote: > Cornell has an extensive series of several hundred intergrade or hybrid > flickers > from studies done in the Great Plains during the 1950s. Not one of them has > different-colored feathers on its body. The color they have varies from > yellow to > orange to red, but it is consistent across all the flight feathers in an > individual > bird. > > Nearly every flicker that has come into the Cornell bird collection in the > last 20 > years has at least some red on one of the feathers. The pattern of intensity > is > consistent, and usually each reddish feather has a slightly different > saturation > than the others. None of these woodpeckers have had any other Red-shafted > characters. Most of the true intergrades show intermediate changes in other > characters too, such as spots of red in the black male mustache or gray in > the face. > It is my conclusion that our local birds have nothing to do with Red-shafted > Flickers and have none in their recent ancestry. Honeysuckle berries seems > the most > obvious hypothesis. > > Kevin > > > > Kevin J. McGowan, Ph.D. > Instructor > Home Study Course in Bird Biology > Cornell Lab of Ornithology > 159 Sapsucker Woods Road > Ithaca, NY 14850 > k...@cornell.edu > 607-254-2452 > ________________________________________ > From: bounce-5684159-3493...@list.cornell.edu > [bounce-5684159-3493...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of John and Sue Gregoire > [k...@empacc.net] > Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 9:59 AM > To: KHAMOLISTSERV > Cc: cayugabirds-l > Subject: [cayugabirds-l] They're here > > This morning, we banded a Nashville Warbler, an ASY-M, and had the return of a > fourth year male Yellow Warbler that we banded as a SY a few years ago. > Another > interesting capture was of what we call a Flicker Integrade (FLIN). This > ASY-M had > bilateral red-shafts on the 8th primaries. Offically it must be called an > integrade > but such birds have been found in our area for several years now with varying > numbers of red shafted primaries. One school of thought is integrade (cross > of Red > and Yellow-shafted birds) while another is a dietetic influence. To my > knowledge the > latter is unproven and genetic studies haven't been completed on the cross > possibility although we submitted feathers and swabs to UCLA several years > ago as > part of the H5N1 study. > J > -- > John and Sue Gregoire > Field Ornithologists > Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory > 5373 Fitzgerald Road > Burdett,NY 14818-9626 > Website: http://www.empacc.net/~kestrelhaven/ > "Conserve and Create Habitat" > > > > > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
