BIRDCHAT for Saturday, April 19, 2008

Messages are displayed in the order they were received.  Subject  From  Time   spiders as a source of mercury in birds   Jeanette Scott    6:05am   mystery HB with link   Helen    10:45am   Great photos from banding session   R.D. Everhart   9:15pm

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Subject: spiders as a source of mercury in birds
From: Jeanette Scott <jcs3712(AT)yahoo.com>
Date: 19 Apr 2008 6:05am

Interesting study about spiders as a source of mercury in birds!
   
  Click:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080418/ap_on_sc/polluted_spiders_5;_ylt=AudDoz0pJy.KofFT18k6g8oE1vAI
   
   
  Jeanette Scott
  Austin, TX

       
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Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.

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Subject: mystery HB with link
From: Helen <helaue(AT)shaw.ca>
Date: 19 Apr 2008 10:45am

Sorry for breaking the rules by sending a message with attachments 
yesterday.  I am resending the message today with a link to three 
pictures of a hummingbird that has been feeding off our flowering 
currant regularly for several days now.  We live on Vancouver Island, 
about 20 min  north of Nanaimo or 2 hours north of Victoria a few feet 
above sea level about 70 yards from a bay in the Georgia Strait.  There 
are basically two species of hummingbird in this area, the Rufous, 
which is by far the most common in the summer, and Anna's, which is a 
year-round resident in small numbers.  A very rare visitor is the 
Black-chinned.  There have been a couple of sightings of this species 
within 10 miles of here within the last month.

To see the pictures go to the website:  
http://members.shaw.ca/halaue/Nanoose_Birdlist/MysteryHB.html

I need help in identifying the bird in the pictures.  It has no rufous 
coloration anywhere, so it does not seem to be a Rufous HB.  That 
leaves Anna's (female) as the most likely candidate.  However, note the 
rather strongly curved bill.  All three HB species mentioned above have 
rather straight bills according to the illustrations in the books.  How 
variable can bill curvatures be?

Thanks,

Helen Laue
Nanoose Bay, BC
Canada
email: helaue(AT)shaw.ca

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Subject: Great photos from banding session
From: "R.D. Everhart" <everhart(AT)black-hole.com>
Date: 19 Apr 2008 9:15pm

Hello everyone,

   We had a pretty good morning bird banding here in central
Minnesota in spite of overcast skies and cool temps. I've posted some
photos of some of the birds on my blog:

http://minnesotabirdnerd.blogspot.com

   I'd like to thank my friend Amber for taking and sharing these
photos. With tomorrows weather supposedly improving, we are off to
Wisconsin to band at another site. I hope to post our totals tomorrow
night.

Roger Everhart
Apple Valley, MN

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