HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ka1gt@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (robert.m.atkins)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: death of condor
Date: 6 Nov 92 23:15:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnewsm.1992Nov6.231548.17700
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T

In article <oeybmKi00iV0A1DIlI@andrew.cmu.edu>, Ruth Kline <rk30+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
> Just heard on the way to work that one of the released California condors
> was found dead of alcohol poisoning. It had drunk from a puddle of
> automotive coolant left in a recreation yard.
> 

I hope this isn't true, but fear it may be. Many types of "anti-freeze"
(or "anti-boil") contain ethylene glycol - which is quite toxic. Not
only that, but it is reputed to have a sweet taste which can make it
attractive to animals and birds. Lethal dose in man is <1gm/kg body weight
(less than 100ml volume). Toxicity in man is mainly via kidney damage.
Please, please, never leave this stuff lying around.

===============================================================
Bob Atkins  AT&T Bell Labs  email (direct)  att!clockwise!rma
===============================================================
Newsgroups: rec.birds,rec.pets
From: scw@fig.citib.com (Steven C. Wolfe)
Subject: Bird Dust Filters???
Originator: scw@ibism
Keywords: Muluccan, dust
Organization: Citibank IBISM
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 20:24:40 GMT


We just acquired a baby Cockatoo, Muluccan, we are seeing a large amount of
feather dust, I have seen very little information on air filters that might
be able to handle cleaning the air of this dust.  Does anyone have any infor-
mation on this subject, or recomendations on air filters?

Please send email directly to me, I will summarize on this subject if I get
a large number of responses.

Thanks,
SCWolfe

PS: this is a domestically bred bird for those who were wondering.
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: rice@groupw.rtp.dg.com (Brian Rice)
Subject: North American birds on disk
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 00:54:56 GMT
Reply-To: rice@dg-rtp.dg.com (Brian Rice)
Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC
Followup-To: rec.birds

People on this newsgroup frequently ask about lists of birds
in machine-readable form.  Well, I found one I'm fairly happy
with.  It is a product of the American Birding Association;
for your US$10 (non-member price) plus shipping costs you get 
a diskette containing the fourth edition of the A.B.A. checklist 
of North American birds.  The list is presented in two files, 
each in a different format: one is a pretty-printed version of 
the list, and the other is a fixed-column data file.  The latter, 
of course, is what's of interest here...here's their format:

     field                          length   start
     =====                          ======   =====
     Common Name                    40       1    
     Scientific Name                40       41   
     Status Code                    4        81   
     Birding Code                   1        85   
     Order                          30       86   
     Scientific Family Name         30       116  
     Common Family Name             100      146  

"Status code" indicates whether the bird is accidental, native,
introduced, or extinct.  "Birding code" is an index of how much
self-congratulation the A.B.A. thinks you deserve if you see the 
bird (except for code 6, which means you're a liar).

It seems that by default you get an MS-DOS floppy; you are asked
to specify 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch.  The packaging implied that a 
Macintosh-format disk may also be available, although none is
mentioned in the catalog.

The list is copyrighted, so I'm not going to post it.  But US$10
isn't that much, and service was quite prompt.  The A.B.A.'s phone 
number is +1 719 578 0607 (North Americans can call (800) 634 7736).
Their address is P.O. Box 6599, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80934-6599,
USA.

I have no connection with the A.B.A. other than as a somewhat
disappointed member (see next post).

--
Brian Rice   rice@dg-rtp.dg.com   +1 919 248 6328
DG/UX Software Quality Engineering
Data General Corp., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina    
"If you don't know how to pronounce a word, say it loud!" --William Strunk
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: tony@zoo.toronto.edu (Anthony L. Lang)
Subject: Re: Churchill info wanted
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 21:48:35 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

In article: <1992Nov5.175423.17424@cbfsb.cb.att.com>
 ghowl@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (timothy.p.walker) writes:
>
>
>I am planning a trip to Churchill, Manitoba next summer. I would
>like to receive any trip reports that people might have saved. Also,
>I have several questions:
>
>1.	What is the birding like on the train to Churchill?

The train goes slowly over the muskeg, so I have been
told that you can see birds from the moving train.  One
person told me that he saw the most birds from the very
last car looking backwards.  I don't know if he was
inside or out.  He saw a Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa)
that way.

>
>3.	How far from Winnipeg do you have to go to see Baird's Sparrow?

There are few Baird's Sparrows to be seen in the very
southwestern corner of Manitoba, i.e., about 300 km s.w.
of Winnipeg.  About a year ago, a birdfinding guide was
published for southwestern Manitoba (a companion for the one
covering the southeastern part).  It may be available
from the ABA.  I have seen it sold at the Fort Whyte Nature
Centre on the southwest corner of Winnipeg.  It is probably
also sold at the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature downtown
and at the Living Prairie Museum in the northwest part of
town.  I'm not sure if the Manitoba Naturalists' Society
sells it by mail order, but I can ask when I am in 
Winnipeg next week if you like.  As Jim Rising suggested, 
they are easier to find farther west.  There is an excellent
birdfinding guide to the Regina, Saskatchewan  
area that lists several 
localities for finding them.  I have an address for that
book.  The only problem is that Regina is about 600 km 
west of Winnipeg.  In either case, you can usually book
a car with over 1000 free kms from Budget or Thrifty's if
you book in advance through their toll free numbers.


-- 
Anthony Lang
Dept. of Zoology, Univ. of Toronto
tony@zoo.utoronto.ca
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: tony@zoo.toronto.edu (Anthony L. Lang)
Subject: Is a pelican in the Arizona desert unusual?
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 19:00:51 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

Back in mid-July of 1990, I was driving westward along
Interstate 8 in Yuma Co., Arizona when I saw a Brown
Pelican flying parallel to the highway between Atzec and
Datelan (I would have to check my notes for the exact date
 and whether it was a juv. or not).  
It looked somewhat distressed, as the temperature
was about 105 degrees F and there was no water in sight.
A check of the map showed that we were about 160 km from
the Gulf of California.  The state annotated checklist
(I've forgotten the author'(s) name(s)) stated that there
were a few records at certain lakes.  My question is:
are pelicans often seen out in the middle of the Arizona
desert?  If not, how do they get to the lakes where they
are recorded?
-- 
Anthony Lang
Dept. of Zoology, Univ. of Toronto
tony@zoo.utoronto.ca
From: gtillman@neptune.urbana.mcd.mot.com (Greg Tillman)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: How does a flock turn simultaneously?
Date: 12 Nov 92 19:36:53 GMT
Reply-To: gtillman@urbana.mcd.mot.com
Organization: Motorola Computer Group, Urbana Design Center


In article <24114@alice.att.com>, rhh@alice.att.com (r hardin) writes:
|> 
|> 
|> And what an abundant source of errors and misapprehensions
|> every half-truth is!  Flights of starlings have a way of flying
|> which is theirs alone and seems as governed by uniform and
|> regular tactics as a disciplined regiment would be, obeying
|> a single leader's voice with precision.  The starlings obey
|> the voice of instinct, and their instinct leads them to bunch
|> into the centre of the squad, while the speed of their flight
|> bears them constantly beyond it; so that this multitude of birds
|> thus united by a common tendency towards the same magnetic point,
|> unceasingly coming and going, circulating and crisscrossing in
|> all directions [. . . .]
|> 
|> Songs of Maldoror, trans. Lykiard, p141

A somewhat mundane followup.  Sometime (over a year ago) I read
an article in Science News about somebody somewhere (mathematician
or biologist, somewhere on the east coast, apologies for not
remembering more) who mimicked the behaviour of bird flocks with
dots on a computer screen, by giving each dot a fairly simple
set of rules (like the ones so poetically described above).  As I recall,
the scientist, at least in this article, was mimicking birds coming
in to roost, and the rules included things like:  starlings
are attracted to each other, starlings are attracted to the roost.
Adding a null spot or negative attraction right above the roost resulted, 
according to the article, in these dots flowing around the computer 
screen in patterns very similar to those of a wheeling flock coming 
in to roost.  This is obviously not proof that starlings are programmed
like these dots, but I found it fairly interesting.
From: sandee@Think.COM (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: The American Birding Association
Date: 13 Nov 1992 18:16:59 GMT
Organization: TMC
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: telecaster.think.com

In article <AFORSTEN.92Nov13151736@aton.abo.fi>, aforsten@aton.abo.fi (Annika Forsten INF) writes:
|> In article <1duoe4INNjsa@matt.ksu.ksu.edu> drintoul@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (David A Rintoul) writes:
|> 
|> >   I second that motion.  ABA is, as noted before, devoted primarily (but
|> >   not exclusively) to the notion that a large list of species seen
|> >   in the lower 48 will get you into heaven quicker.
|> 
|> I seems to me that your attitude is that if you're not into conservation
|> you're a lister. I don't understand this at all. 
 [..]
|> Do you have a serious problem with listers over there? Or why do you 
|> bring listers into everything? 
|> 
|> annika forsten, finland
|> aforsten@aton.abo.fi

It is a common phenomenon in this country that non-listers sneer at
listers. Don't let it worry you. More seriously, however, non-listers
insinuate that listers are interested in listing to the exclusion of
everything else, which is a vicious libel.
I wouldn't know that listers are a problem. It is true that they
harass birds, upon occasions. So do non-listers. Still better than
the collectomaniacs who want to build a complete museum collection, though.

Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation
Cambridge, Mass 02142                                 (617) 234-5044


Organization: Information Services, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Date: Fri,  6 Nov 1992 09:09:26 -0500 
From: Ruth Kline <rk30+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: death of condor

Just heard on the way to work that one of the released California condors
was found dead of alcohol poisoning. It had drunk from a puddle of
automotive coolant left in a recreation yard.


Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: jfinger@adobe.com (Jeff Finger)
Subject: Bushnell Scopes
Organization: Adobe Systems, Inc., Mountain View, CA
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 21:04:39 GMT

After conferring with various people, I came to the conclusion that the
Bushnell Spacemaster II was the best value. Upon further checking I find
a number of complications:

1. Spacemaster II
   + 70mm scope. 
   + no longer made
   + still available with a 22x eyepiece for about $200. 
   + focusing mechanism is a rocker arm rather than helical 
     (the little wheel on the side of the scope).

2. Spacemaster
   + 60mm scope
   + $200 with 22x eyepiece
   + Helical focusing mechanism

3. Spacemaster with ED Prime glass. 
   + 60mm scope
   + $340
   + Helical focusing mechanism

4. Bushnell makes a extra long relief eyepiece for about $40.

Questions:
    1. Does anyone know why the 70mm scopes aren't made anymore? Maybe the
       "best value" is no longer available through Bushnell.
    2. Is the ED Prime glass significantly better than the regular glass?
    3. Did the SpaceMaster II formerly come with helical focus? Rocker
       arm focusing seems pretty horrible.
    4. Do the extra long relief eyepieces work well with eyeglasses?

Any opinions would be welcome. I'd be happy to summarize.

Thanks,

-- Jeff Finger --
From: gls@hare.udev.cdc.com (gl sprandel x4707)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Tallahassee Birds / shorebirds
Keywords: none
Date: 12 Nov 92 00:02:18 GMT
Reply-To: gls@udev.cdc.com (gl sprandel x4707)
Organization: Control Data Systems, Inc.


 .....


  It looks like I will be moving to Tallahassee for at least the winter. 
  Would anyone have any recommendations for good birding spots
  (or apartments, too) in the area?

  Also any information on wintering shorebird numbers and areas in the
  panhandle (or anywhere in Florida) would also be appreciated. 
   thanks in advance, gary

  ( Please forgive me if you get this twice - got an error the first time) 

-- 
Bird of the week : Hooded Merganser (> 100, Sucker Lake)
Gary Spranel  gls@.udev.cdc.com      Telephone <612> 482-4707
Control Data Systems, Inc. ARH215, 4201 N. Lexington, Arden Hills MN, 55126
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Backyard bird feeding in city neighborhood?
From: Tina Hay <TMH1@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 07:53:44 EST
Organization: Penn State University

My sister lives in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh and gets not much
besides house sparrows, house finches, and cardinals at her birdfeeder.  I
wonder if that's all she *can* get, given her location, or whether it would
be worth it to her to try additional feeders, more varied food, etc.  Does
she have any hope, for example, of getting goldfinches if she puts up a
thistle feeder?  Or woodpeckers if she puts up a suet feeder?  And so on.

I live in State College, Pa., and I think she's getting jealous at hearing
about my nuthatches, Carolina wrens, downy woodpeckers, white-throated
sparrows, etc.

P.S.  She's not in the heart of the city by any means, and there are some
parks and open spaces within a mile or so of her, I think.

Thanks for any information you can provide.
From: gls@hare.udev.cdc.com (gl sprandel x4707)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Tallahassee birds - shorebirds?
Keywords: It looks like I will be moving to Tallahassee for at least the winter. 
  Would anyone have any recommendations for good birding spots
  (or apartments, too) in the area?
Date: 11 Nov 92 23:57:22 GMT
Reply-To: gls@udev.cdc.com (gl sprandel x4707)
Organization: Control Data Systems, Inc.


  Also any information on wintering shorebird numbers and areas particularly
  in the panhandle (or elsewhere in Florida) would also be appreciated. 

 thanks in advance for the info, gary sprandel

-- 
Bird of the week : Hooded Merganser (> 100, Sucker Lake)
Gary Spranel  gls@.udev.cdc.com      Telephone <612> 482-4707
Control Data Systems, Inc. ARH215, 4201 N. Lexington, Arden Hills MN, 55126
From: drintoul@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (David A Rintoul)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Hawaii information wanted
Date: 6 Nov 92 15:54:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: matt.1dfeljINNpec
Organization: Kansas State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: matt.ksu.ksu.edu

Greetings

I will be attending a Gordon Research Conference in Hawaii
this month, and will be there from 11/14-11/22/92.  The conference
was originally scheduled to be on Kauai, but Hurricane Iniki
pretty well fixed those plans.  It is now scheduled to be
on the northern  coast of Oahu (Kahuku).  I will arrive one
day early, so could bird on the next day (sunday, 11/15) unless
I am too jet lagged or otherwise incapacitated.  I will also
have the afternons free all week, and all day Saturday 11/21.
I will have an automobile, so transportation should not
be a huge hurdle.

Where should I go?  What is there to see this time of year on Oahu?  I
have written to the Hawaii Audubon chapter for a copy of their booklet
which was mentioned here sometime last year, but it hasn't arrived
yet.  Hopefully it will get here before I depart.  But other clues or
hints or suggestions from seasoned Hawaii birders, tourists, or other
experts are also welcomed.  If any Hawaiian birders are reading this
and would like to escort a poor flatlander from Kansas around your
favorite birding hotspot, please let me know.  I am interested in any
good spots for birds, with no particular species list in mind.  I
understand that most native landbirds have been wiped out on the major
Hawaiian islands, but if there are some places left on Oahu where they
might be a possibility I would be very inteested.  I would also like
to know of good places to see seabirds (tropicbirds?) while I am
there.  Thanks in advance for your help, I promise to post a trip
report when I return to the deep-freeze here.

dave (drintoul@matt.ksu.ksu.edu)



-- 
Dave Rintoul            Internet: drintoul@matt.ksu.ksu.edu
Biology Division - KSU     Latitude 39.18, Longitude -96.34
Manhattan KS 66506-4901                         TCN: id2418
(913)-532-5832 or 6663                  FAX: (913)-532-6653
From: gls@hare.udev.cdc.com (gl sprandel x4707)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Minneapolis birds
Date: 12 Nov 92 18:08:14 GMT
Reply-To: gls@udev.cdc.com (gl sprandel x4707)
Organization: Control Data Systems, Inc.


 ............
 Minneapolis and Minnesota have a lot of good places, both close  
 and far.  The best reference is Kim Eckerts -- you can buy it  
 at the Bell Museum book store, but there should be a new addition out 
 soon. 
  
 In the minneapolis area I like: 
 - By the University walk down by the park by the e bank of the 
     river.  This is where the ornithology class goes a lot.
     Right on campus, and a good variety. 
 - Wood Lake Nature Center - Richfield.   
    Pretty good for migrating warblers and ducks 
 - Old Cedar Avenue Bridge.  Nice for water birds.
 - The "Bass Ponds" area.   Major staging area for coots. Not bad for warblers.  - Black dog power plant - Open water in winter, so there is usually  
    something. 
 
Other places around the cities. 
 - Lake Vadnais in Shoreview.  A loon has nested here the last few years. 
    Neotropical coromorant showed up here this year.  Often cormorants,  
    and Caspian terns .  Migrating ducks like this to.  
 - Tamarack nature center - white bear.  Nice walk, can be good for 
   warblers in mid may.  
 
Out state.  
 - Hawk ridge duluth.  Mid-september.  Phenomenal!!! 
   This year on one day I saw 5,000 broadwings, another day 10 Perregrine 
   falcons. IN october one day  80 goshawks, and 6 golden eagles.  
 - Frontenac - around the State Park.  First half of May - great for warblers.
 - Salt Lake - W. MN. Good for shorebirds in april. 

-- 
Bird of the week : Hooded Merganser (> 100, Sucker Lake)
Gary Sprandel  gls@.udev.cdc.com      Telephone <612> 482-4707
Control Data Systems, Inc. ARH215, 4201 N. Lexington, Arden Hills MN, 55126 
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: bruceha@microsoft.com (Bruce Hale)
Subject: plastic bird skeleton
Date: 10 Nov 92 20:48:27 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Distribution: usa


Does anyone know where I can get a plastic bird skeleton model
kit, or something like a "visible bird" model?
From: sandee@Think.COM (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Lake Mead birds
Date: 5 Nov 1992 12:05:53 GMT
Organization: TMC
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: telecaster.think.com

In article <1992Nov5.015246.20916@nevada.edu>, crail@nevada.edu (DONNA CRAIL-RUGOTZKE) writes:
|> At Lake Mead (outside of Las Vegas), I spotted a very unusual loon.  He 
|> was in winter plumage.  He had a upturned black bill and may have had 
|> spots.  My guess is that he is a Red Throated Loon (Gavia stellata).

Probably, from the upturned bill, a Red-throated. Smallish (not easy to
establish without direct comparison), slender bill, slender neck.
But a YELLOW-BILLED LOON has recently been reported from Lake Mead. It also
may look like it has an upturned bill, but the bill would be light, and 
otherwise it's a large, stocky bird.

Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation
Cambridge, Mass 02142                                 (617) 234-5044
From: loon@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za (LOON M J)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: MAPS
Date: 12 Nov 92 10:27:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: underdog.loon.80
Organization: Wits Electrical Engineering (Undergrads).

This is a repost. Does anyone know of the progress of the MAPS project in 
the states?

Reply by mail.
--
Marc Loon <loon@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za>
Student No: 8807871/X
Elec Eng. University of the Witwatersrand
Johannesburg

Conversation: a voice competition between two people
in which the one taking a breath is called the listener.
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: PLANCHAJ@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu (Tony Planchart)
Subject: Resident Red Tail
Organization: Vanderbilt University 
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 20:46:31 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.21

Our squirrel population is under siege!  The resident red tailed hawk is back
to campus and it has the squirrels barking defensively.  

I find this fascinating given the fact that Vanderbilt is practically in the
middle of downtown Nashville, and the nearest underdeveloped, relatively
sparsely populated area of town is several miles away.  But hey, if you were a
hawk wouldn't you want to be over a seemingly inexhaustable food supply, :-)?

Tony
From the windows of Molecular Biology
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 17:30:54 -0500 
From: Lisa Laverne Vaughan <lv0e+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Carver,Crown Phone #'s??

anyone have them on hand?  I'm looking for info on their power amps

thankx, ...lisa
From: cive1em@jane.uh.edu (Chuang, Lu-chia)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Looking for Celestion dealer in Houston, TX
Date: 6 Nov 92 15:43:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: jane.6NOV199209433770
Organization: University of Houston
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

Hello,

I am looking for Celestion dealer in Hoston (or nearby area less than 2 hr
drive). If you know one, please E-mail me.
Thanks in advance.

-Luke
Newsgroups: rec.audio