I don't believe it's been mentioned that there has already been a MN record of a Tropical/Couch's Kingbird in 2011 in Duluth. The record was unanimously accepted by MOURC and there was never any discussion of the bird being an escape. As Bruce points out, the condition of the plumage of this year's individual is the result of molt and does not suggest prior captivity. The chances this being an escape are small compared to the high likelihood of natural vagrancy, which has already occurred here and in several other states.
Kim Eckert, Duluth Sent from my iPhone > On Jun 28, 2015, at 9:53 PM, Bruce Fall <baf...@umn.edu> wrote: > > The Murphy-Hanrehan kingbird is an adult in advanced pre-basic molt. The > feathers that appear worn (including outer primaries, outer rectrices) are > likely 11-12 months old and their worn and faded appearance is typical of > feathers that age. Photographic evidence shows there were 4 worn, old outer > primaries (p7-10) on 24 June, and only 3 (p8-10) on 27 June (thus p8 was > dropped after 24 June); the inner ones are new, growing, or missing. On 6/24 > the kingbird had only 7 old (worn) rectrices (outer 3 right, 4 left) out of > 12 total; the inner 5 are partly grown or missing. The likelihood that this > insectivore has been raised as a captive for a couple years seems very remote > to me. On the other hand, there is a pattern of vagrancy north and east of > the normal breeding ranges of both Tropical (especially) and Couch's (and > unidentified Tropical/Couch's) kingbirds. An eBird search will verify this. > See also > https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/nab/v052n01/p00006-p00011.pdf > > Bruce Fall, Minneapolis > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
