HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: srh3@Ra.MsState.Edu (Steven R. Hollis)
Subject: Cooper's sighting in Miss.
Organization: Mississippi State University
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 04:00:14 GMT

     I was dove hunting last SAturday, when I noticeda bird fly up from
the field to a dead tree behind me.  I noticed it was much larger than the dovesand flew in a different style.  I stood up and moved so I could see the tree, 
and there I was, face to face with a Cooper's HAwk less than 15 yards from me
We watched each other for several seconds.  I was pleasantly surprised (they
are sort of uncommon here, not by nature, but due to pesticides and such)
I was distracted by a shout of "Steve, comin' over!"  I looked and saw the closest dove that flew near me that day and it was too late for me to shoot (of
course)  When I turned back around, the Cooper's was gone.  I told the landowner, who by the way was the shouter.  He told me that there was one that lived nearby, since he was a fellow raptor lover, I was forgiven for my missed easy shot

:)  Just thought I would share.

Steve

--
===============================================================================
Steve Hollis--Your friendly neighborhood zoology major
srh3@ra.msstate.edu
===============================================================================
From: marcone@math.psu.edu (Alberto G. Marcone)
Subject: thread on binoculars
Reply-To: marcone@math.psu.edu
Organization: Dept. of Mathematics, Penn State University
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 17:35:35 GMT

Around the beginning of August there was a thread in this newsgroup about binoculars.
I read probably only the last posting in it. Did anybody save the whole discussion and could e-mail it to me?

As you might guess I am considering upgrading my equipment, but I don't want to start a new thread all over again....

Thanks,

Alberto Marcone               marcone@math.psu.edu
From: toby@milton.u.washington.edu (Toby Bradshaw)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Cooper's sighting in Miss.
Date: 14 Sep 92 19:09:44 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

>Andrew Taylor:
>A lot of Australians would be surprised that there are people who
>not only enjoy killing kangaroos but would fly all the way to
>Australia to do it and pay US$100 per day for the privilege.

A lot of Americans are surprised that there are people who
not only enjoy watching birds, but will pay up to US$1000
for a pair of binoculars to do it.  What does it prove?

Toby Bradshaw
Department of Biochemistry and College of Forest Resources
University of Washington, Seattle
toby@u.washington.edu
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: aforsten@aton.abo.fi (Annika Forsten INF)
Subject: Re: Hunting in the US and Canada
Organization: Abo Akademi University, Finland
	<WVENABLE.92Sep13224238@algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au>
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 15:57:49 GMT

In article <WVENABLE.92Sep13224238@algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au> wvenable@algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au (Bill Venables) writes:

>   Several years ago one of my brothers was once asked along to an (illegal)
>   hunt of Torres straight pigeons (Ducula spillorrhoa) - a magnificent bird
>   in every sense.  He went expecting that the party of five would bring home
>   half a dozen or so each.  However they took 695 birds!  Sadly his fellow
>   shooters were from a Mediterranean country where this kind of hunting
>   "exuberance" appears to be culturally endemic, much to the peril of
>   migrating song birds.  I find that kind of hunting simply ridiculous.
>   (After this experience the brother in question is now a confirmed birder,
>   by the way!)

Did they get away with it? Are the Mediterranean blokes still doing it in
Oz?

annika forsten, finland
aforsten@aton.abo.fi
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: toby@milton.u.washington.edu (Toby Bradshaw)
Subject: Re: Hunting
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 19:47:14 GMT

In article <1992Sep14.181550.9842@verdix.com> edm@verdix.com (Ed Matthews) writes:
>I thought we had an understanding that hunting would be discussed in
>rec.hunting and birding in rec.birds.  Have you forgotten?  I know
>several of you know better.

As a (the) major offender, I can understand your pique.  Note that
rec.hunting is moderated, and the charter specifically forbids
discussion on the "morality" of hunting.  Followups to 
Talk.politics.animals might make sense, though.

>I am sorely disappointed that I have to wade through all these hunting
>posts.  I have little enough time as it is to devote to the net.
>I am especially irritated at all of you that left the title "Cooper's
>Hawk" on your post about hunting.

Oops.

>Obligatory birding: saw a Kentucky Warbler outside my office window
>this morning.  Best bird on the office list to date.

O.K.  I had a chestnut-backed chickadee at my feeder this
morning, a black-throated gray warbler in my cherry tree,
and a Cooper's hawk on my neighbor's TV antenna.  I can always
tell when the Cooper's makes a firing run, because I can hear
the house finches bouncing off the windows.

Toby Bradshaw
Department of Biochemistry and College of Forest Resources
University of Washington, Seattle
toby@u.washington.edu
From: shamus@bcsaic.boeing.com (Shamus McBride)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Want Puget Sound overwater sightings of TURKEY VULTURES
Date: 14 Sep 92 04:15:05 GMT
Distribution: pnw
Organization: Boeing Computer Services, Seattle

WANTED! Sightings of TURKEY VULTURES flying over any body of water in 
	Puget Sound or the northern staits.

Diann MacRae has a grant from the Hawk Migration Assoication of North 
America to study the over-water migration of turkey vultures from Vancouver 
Island to the mainland.  If you have evidence of turkey vultures out over 
any of the northwest Washington waters, Diann would appreciate a copy of
your notes. Dates and times are essential, weather, numbers of vultures,
behavior, etc are also important. Send information to

		Diann MacRae 
		22622 - 53rd Avenue S.E.
		Bothell, WA 98021
		(206) 481-2797
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: aforsten@aton.abo.fi (Annika Forsten INF)
Subject: Re: HAWKS & OWLS
Organization: Abo Akademi University, Finland
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 16:02:56 GMT

In article <1001@qa1.WichitaKS.NCR.COM> chajek@qa1.WichitaKS.NCR.COM (chajek) writes:

>   Is there any way to trap the hawks or owls and relocate them?  Would the
>   Wildlife and Parks do it for us, or are we on our own with this one?  Thanks.

In Sweden those who raise pheasants have the same problem with Goshawks.
I've never heard of problems with owls, though. In Sweden a licence can
be obtained to trap Goshawks which are troublesome to pheasant breeders.
The birds are then relocated. A study was done on how effective this is.

If the bird was an adult in his own territory, the relocating was rather
useless, the bird returned (if I remember correctly). But if the bird
was a juvenile the relocating could be successful, however it had to
be moved at least 50 km, preferably more. (I'm quoting all this from
memory).

annika forsten, finland
aforsten@aton.abo.fi
From: wvenable@attunga.stats.adelaide.edu.au (Bill Venables)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Cooper's sighting in Miss.
Date: 12 Sep 92 03:00:32 GMT
Organization: Department of Statistics, University of Adelaide
NNTP-Posting-Host: attunga.stats.adelaide.edu.au
In-reply-to: srh3@Ra.MsState.Edu's message of 11 Sep 92 04:00:14 GMT

>>>>> "Hollis" == Steven R. Hollis <srh3@Ra.MsState.Edu> writes:

Hollis> I was dove hunting last Saturday, ...

You mean that in the US it's legal to hunt native birds?  That's amazing.

Here in Australia you are only allowed to shoot a very few species of very
common ducks, and then only during a restricted hunting season of about 3
days/year, with a limited bag count per shooter (and even that is very
controversial).  The only other birds that are hunted are certain
agricultural pest birds, and then only with a permit.

I thought America had a declining bird population anyway, due to things
like cowbird predation.  Is there any move to stop hunting?

Bill
--
--
Bill Venables, Dept. of Statistics, | Email: venables@stats.adelaide.edu.au
Univ. of Adelaide, South Australia. | Tel: +61 8 228 5412  Fax: ...232 5670
From: del_col@ab.wvnet.edu
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: mammal-like bird
Date: 11 Sep 92 17:53:46 GMT
Organization: Alderson-Broaddus College

In article <1992Sep9.211428.24635@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, rbradley@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Richard A Bradley) writes:
> There is at least one bird that has the moniker "Honorary Mammal".  It is
> a true bird of course, but it does have some mammal-like characteristics.
> It is the Kiwi (Actually several closely related species, Apteryx sp.).
> The mammal like features of Kiwis include:
> 
> 	1. Finely divided plumes, hence "bird with hairy feathers"
> 	2. Lives in burrows (huge feet for digging)
> 	3. Is flightless, very tiny nubs for wings.
> 	4. It is normally nocturnal.
> 	5. It has very tiny eyes and poor vision, but an excellent
> 	   sense of smell (both typical mammalian features, humans
> 	   are NOT typical in either respect).
>         6. Kiwis have the odd feature of openings to their nostrils
>            near the tip of their long beak.  This puts them in a good
> 	   position to smell out the buried worms that are their favorite
> 	   food.  Smelling out their food is very mammal-like and
> 	   not very bird like (with some exceptions among shorebirds and
> 	   vultures). 
>         7. It lays HUGE eggs, the largest in proportion to the size
> 	   of the female (hen weighs 1,800g egg is 420g!).  It also
> 	   true that they have a very long incubation period, with a
> 	   long period of dependency.
> 
> Kiwis are found only in New Zealand, a land that had no native mammals
> (aside from bats) before the arrival of the first humans there (Maoris).
> Perhaps their honorary status is as much a consequence of this fact than
> the similarities.  Kiwis are rapidly disappearing from their native habitats
> because of introduced mammal predators (mostly dogs) and the disappearance
> of their forest habitat.
> 
>   Anyway this is my suggested "mammal-like" bird.
> 
> Rich Bradley
> Ohio State University, Marion


	There is a hell of a big difference between calling a bird "mammal-like"
and claiming that a bird is also a mammal.  By analogy we could say that
bats are "honorary birds."  Seems silly to me.

J. Del Col
From: wvenable@algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au (Bill Venables)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Have you visited AVES lately?
Date: 15 Sep 92 00:18:19 GMT
Organization: Department of Statistics, University of Adelaide
NNTP-Posting-Host: algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au
In-reply-to: rglaeser@sparc4.cs.uiuc.edu's message of 14 Sep 92 17:58:38 GMT

Just a few notes on some of the new gifs in AVES:

noisy-scrub - (Noisy scrub bird).

This is an interesting West Australian bird.  It was thought to be extinct
for about 60 years.  Then in 1966 it was re-discovered during the planning
stages for a new coastal town (which never went ahead after that).  It is
being successfully rehabilitated and re-introduced into several former
ranges.  It is a passerine, perhaps distantly related to the Lyre birds.
The really surprising thing about it, however, is that it has one of the
loudest and most penetrating calls of all Australian passerines - how could
it have been lost for so long?  Australia is a big place, I guess.

superb-wren
blue-breast-wren

These are fairy wrens, of course.  Fairy wrens are some of the most common
and familiar small passerines in Australia.  The males in breeding plumage
are to me simply exquisite.  Most Australians just don't see it, though!

[Sorry I don't have the Latin names, but these three are Australian endemics.]

tropicbird

If you want to create an image of absolute freedom on your screen, try this
one full size!

My thanks to the anonymous contributors for these and indeed all the gifs.

Bill.
--
___________________________________________________________________________
Bill Venables, Dept. of Statistics, | Email: venables@stats.adelaide.edu.au
Univ. of Adelaide, South Australia. | Tel: +61 8 228 5412  Fax: ...232 5670
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: edm@verdix.com (Ed Matthews)
Subject: Hunting
Organization: Verdix Corp.
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 18:15:50 GMT

I thought we had an understanding that hunting would be discussed in
rec.hunting and birding in rec.birds.  Have you forgotten?  I know
several of you know better.

I am sorely disappointed that I have to wade through all these hunting
posts.  I have little enough time as it is to devote to the net.
I am especially irritated at all of you that left the title "Cooper's
Hawk" on your post about hunting.

Obligatory birding: saw a Kentucky Warbler outside my office window
this morning.  Best bird on the office list to date.
-- 

Ed Matthews                                                edm@verdix.com
Verdix Corporation Headquarters                            (703) 318-5800
Herndon, Virginia
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au (Bob McKay)
Subject: Re: Cooper's sighting in Miss.
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 06:36:13 GMT

toby@milton.u.washington.edu (Toby Bradshaw) writes:

>For about $100 a day, a Yank can shoot kangaroos in Australia.  No
>doubt, this is on someone's land where the 'roos are considered
>a "pest".  Perhaps the recreation is disguised as crop protection
>to keep it from being legislated out of existence.

I can't be absolutely certain, since hunting is a state rather than federal
matter, and it's hard to keep track of all the state laws, but I'm pretty
sure Bill is right. In most states, not only would hunting roos for payment be 
illegal, but handling any firearm without the relevant licence - which a 
tourist would have very little hope of getting - is a serious criminal 
offence. I'm not denying that it may be done, and perhaps advertised in the 
US, but someone taking the offer up is risking much more than that $100 a 
day - if caught, you could very easily be talking gaol.


-- 
Bob McKay		   	Phone:	+61 6 268 8169	    fax: +61 6 268 8581
Dept. Computer Science		Internet:	rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au
ADFA, Northcott Dve 		UUCP:...!uunet!munnari!csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au!rim
Campbell ACT 2600 AUSTRALIA	ARPA:	rim%csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au@uunet.uu.net
From: sam@cheme.washington.edu (Samuel Herschbein)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: HAWKS & OWLS
Date: 13 Sep 92 14:04:09 GMT
Followup-To: rec.birds
Organization: Chemical Engineering, U Washington

chajek@qa1.WichitaKS.NCR.COM (chajek) wrote:
> We live on a 100 acre farm in Kansas.  I raise guinea fowl as a natural
> means of grasshopper control (we were eaten up by grasshoppers in '90
>...
> Is there any way to trap the hawks or owls and relocate them?  Would the
> Wildlife and Parks do it for us, or are we on our own with this one?  Thanks.

     Hawks and Owls are protected species.  Please do not attempt to
capture or
trap them, unless you are an experienced raptor trapper, it will result in
injury or death to the bird.

     Have you tried putting a chicken wire roof over your coop?  Try
throwing
some old tarps over the wire to make sure its very visible to a swooping
raptor.
Could you build a coop out of used construction 4x8 sheets of plywood and
2x4s?
These are commonly thrown out after the concrete shapes are poured around
them.
A totally enclosed coop would also make the guinea fowl more secure at
night.

     Samuel Herschbein
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: andrewt@watson.ibm.com (Andrew Taylor)
Subject: Broad-Winged Hawk migration underway (in NY)
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 15:44:27 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

With unprecedented timing, I arrived on Saturday morning at Butler
Hawkwatch (~40km north of NY city) just as the first big kettle was seen
of this year's Broad-Winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) migration. To me, 
a stream of Broad-Wings bannering overhead against the blue sky
is the finest sight to be had when birding the NE US.
In the next hour ~ 1000 of Saturday's 2800 Broad-Wings came through.

It was nice to meet again people I had met at the same Hawkwatch
5 years ago. Including a gray-haired couple, in their 60s at least, who 
come without binoculars and delight in pointing out birds that those
of us with ordinary eyes struggle to find with binoculars. Helen
spotted Saturday's best bird, an adult Bald Eagle which flew straight
over in full sun. Helen's sharp eyes also spotted one of Sunday's
three Bald Eagles.  The Hawkwatch at Greenwich Audubon just down the road
had 7 Bald Eagles on Saturday. There really has been a great increase
in Bald Eagles migrating through this area since I was here 5 years ago.

The other raptors seen were Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Northern Harrier,
Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Red-Tailed Hawk, American Kestrel and Merlin.

Andrew Taylor
From: shthomin@athena.mit.edu (Stephane Thomin)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Red Knot, Short Billed or Long Billed Dowitcher ?
Date: 5 Sep 92 15:44:09 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology



I just spent 2 weeks in Florida where the birding was great. I
had no problem to recognize the birds, although I am not used to the
American avifauna.
Now, there is one species I am not sure about. It was in Fort Myers
Beach ; there were a few small flocks of this unknown species feeding
on the beach with Turnstones ; from what I remember, it could have
been either Red Knots, Short Billed- or Long Billed Dowitchers. I
tried to find out by myself, checking in a few guides, but could'nt make up my mind.
Can somebody out there help me and tell me what the birds were ?
I am pretty sure that only one of the three species above can occur in
flocks in Florida in late August, that's why I am not giving any
detail about the bird. 
A GOOD birder in Florida MUST know the answer to my question, I
guess.

Thanx.
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: josh@cqs.washington.edu (Josh Hayes)
Subject: Re: Parrots in Austin,TX
Keywords: monk parrots
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 00:14:27 GMT

sjm1@ra.msstate.edu (Sarah J. McKinley) writes:

>While in Austin, Texas this weekend, I saw a small colony of green and
>gray (monk?) parrots in a city park.  Although I only saw 3 - 4 birds
>at a time, I got the impression that they were quite successful there.

Ah, yes, the monk parakeets. One of the two or three birds I was able
to teach my summer class of football players to identify.....they nest
communally in these enormous piles of what looks like hay. One of the
best places to see them is just south of town lake on - um....I'm forgetting
my Austin geography...Lamar Blvd? There's a theater there, with a few
softball fields around behind it. The light standards for the ball fields
have about a half dozen of these nests.

On the UT campus there is (or was, as of 1989) a small flock of some
sort of amazon. Used to be about six of them; I think they roosted around
the Union building. I dunno if they're going to be able to establish, but
there's no doubt that the parakeets are well established now. I'd estimate
the population at close to 300 birds total.

Josh Hayes

--
Josh Hayes, Quantitative Sciences HR-20 U of Washington
josh@mowgli.cqs.washington.edu             206 685-2793
Exclaimer: Hey!           Plan: Birth School Work Death
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: rbradley@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Richard A Bradley)
Subject: mammal-like bird
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 21:14:28 GMT

There is at least one bird that has the moniker "Honorary Mammal".  It is
a true bird of course, but it does have some mammal-like characteristics.
It is the Kiwi (Actually several closely related species, Apteryx sp.).
The mammal like features of Kiwis include:

	1. Finely divided plumes, hence "bird with hairy feathers"
	2. Lives in burrows (huge feet for digging)
	3. Is flightless, very tiny nubs for wings.
	4. It is normally nocturnal.
	5. It has very tiny eyes and poor vision, but an excellent
	   sense of smell (both typical mammalian features, humans
	   are NOT typical in either respect).
        6. Kiwis have the odd feature of openings to their nostrils
           near the tip of their long beak.  This puts them in a good
	   position to smell out the buried worms that are their favorite
	   food.  Smelling out their food is very mammal-like and
	   not very bird like (with some exceptions among shorebirds and
	   vultures). 
        7. It lays HUGE eggs, the largest in proportion to the size
	   of the female (hen weighs 1,800g egg is 420g!).  It also
	   true that they have a very long incubation period, with a
	   long period of dependency.

Kiwis are found only in New Zealand, a land that had no native mammals
(aside from bats) before the arrival of the first humans there (Maoris).
Perhaps their honorary status is as much a consequence of this fact than
the similarities.  Kiwis are rapidly disappearing from their native habitats
because of introduced mammal predators (mostly dogs) and the disappearance
of their forest habitat.

  Anyway this is my suggested "mammal-like" bird.

Rich Bradley
Ohio State University, Marion
From: wvenable@algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au (Bill Venables)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Hunting in the US and Canada
Date: 13 Sep 92 13:12:38 GMT
Organization: Department of Statistics, University of Adelaide
NNTP-Posting-Host: algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au
In-reply-to: rising@zoo.toronto.edu's message of 12 Sep 92 17:44:30 GMT

>>>>> "Jim" == Jim Rising <rising@zoo.toronto.edu> writes:

Jim> All native birds are protected in North America by international
Jim> treaties.

That's what I thought.

Jim> Bill, can't farmers shoot Galah's in Oz?  What is the story there?

[Galah: Cacatua roseicapilla]

Only if and where they pose a serious threat to crops, and then only with a
permit.  It's not perpetual open season by any means, even though they are
very common.  Much the same goes for Kangaroos, too, for that matter.

[BTW Galahs are not considered very good game.  There's a famous recipe for
how to cook a galah: you put the galah in the pot with an old boot and boil
away until you can pierce the boot with a fork.  They you throw away the
galah and eat the boot!]

The only animals with unrestricted hunting allowed are the exotic feral
animals:  pigs, goats, water buffalo, rabbits, hares, foxes, horses,
donkeys, camels and cats.  Even fishing is not unrestricted.

My own attitude to hunting is not one of mindless outrage - I have been
known to go fishing, for example, now and then.  However there are limits.
Several years ago one of my brothers was once asked along to an (illegal)
hunt of Torres straight pigeons (Ducula spillorrhoa) - a magnificent bird
in every sense.  He went expecting that the party of five would bring home
half a dozen or so each.  However they took 695 birds!  Sadly his fellow
shooters were from a Mediterranean country where this kind of hunting
"exuberance" appears to be culturally endemic, much to the peril of
migrating song birds.  I find that kind of hunting simply ridiculous.
(After this experience the brother in question is now a confirmed birder,
by the way!)

--
___________________________________________________________________________
Bill Venables, Dept. of Statistics, | Email: venables@stats.adelaide.edu.au
Univ. of Adelaide, South Australia. | Tel: +61 8 228 5412  Fax: ...232 5670
Newsgroups: rec.birds