HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: rising@zoo.toronto.edu (Jim Rising)
Subject: Birding at Night
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 21:08:55 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

Many birds feed extensively.  I recall once watching a
bunch of peeps feeding at night.  There was bright moonlight
and I could nearly identify them.  I could approach them quite
closely.  I understand that many ducks feed actively at night
at well.  
I have also watched Poor-wills feed etc. by bright moonlight.
-- 
Name:     Jim Rising
Mail:     Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada    M5S 1A1
UUCP:     uunet!attcan!utzoo!rising 
BITNET:   rising@zoo.utoronto.ca
From: bridges@mala.bc.ca
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: HELP: Best travel destination(s) for bird-watching???
Date: 25 Jan 93 13:55:27 -0700
Organization: Malaspina College

In article <bethp.727892840@milton>, bethp@milton.u.washington.edu (Beth Plotkin) writes:
> HELP: What are some of the best travel destinations in the world
> for bird watching?  All opinions welcome!


>San Blas, a town of about 5,000 mid-way between Mazatlan and Puerta
Vallarta is a great place.  There is a local there who speaks excellent
English who will give guided tours just for bird watchers.  Unfortunately,
I can't remember his name.  (We only became avid bird watchers after
we left the area, but he is well known locally and among bird watching
groups.
doug bridges
From: mccombs@sumax.seattleu.edu (Mike McCombs)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Do YOU Have Peregrine Falcon on YOUR Yard List?
Date: 26 Jan 1993 07:46:19 -0800
Organization: Seattle University
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: sumax.seattleu.edu
Summary: No raptors, but....
Keywords: Condors

No pergrine falcons, no raptors. But.... as a kid in Ojai, Ca in the late
'50s we did get a condor working on a dog carcass in the ravine 20 ft.
from the house. Does that count? :-) 

(Don't bother asking what got me into birding....)

Mike
From: bridges@mala.bc.ca
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: What a pathetic bunch on whiners!
Date: 28 Jan 93 13:51:59 -0700
Organization: Malaspina College

In article <1993Jan28.155055.21344@midway.uchicago.edu>, r0th@ellis.uchicago.edu (Dr. Samuel Conway) writes:
> I knew that would get your attention....but it's true.  I've never seof X,Y, and Z.  I'll remind you that you do not own this newsgroup, and
> 
> 
>    our songbirds."  [Heaven help us, someone DID say that]
> 
> "We can't talk about starlings here, since they are not native to OUR
>    country."
> 
> "We can't talk about robins here, because WE hardly find them 
>    interesting."
> 
> Call for votes:  rec.birds.robins.interesting.  I'm taking an informal poll.
> 
> 
> 
> Grow up, my friends.  Get a clue.  Explore the world and touch the
> minds of others, and come to the startling realization that, though not
> everyone happens to agree with you, we all seem to have one thing in
> common:  a love of birds.  Hence this newsgroup.
> 
> 
> ----
> Dr. Samuel Conway         *  What a great day!  I went hunting with my
> National Center for       *  redtailed hawk while my wife stayed at home
> Toxicological Research,   *  and took care of our parakeets while watching
> Jefferson, AR             *  some starlings through her binoculars.
> 
> (yes, I'm pissed off)
> 
  Dr. Sam,
      In your informal poll shall we put you down as undecided??
Doug Bridges
From: birchall@pilot.njin.net (Shag)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: January Optics FAQ
Date: 28 Jan 93 16:25:33 GMT
Organization: Screaming in Digital, the Queensryche Digest

edm@verdix.com (Ed Matthews) writes:

>Help Me
>=======

>1. Can you tell me if Bogen and Manfrotto tripod model numbers correspond?
>2. Can you give me information on where to buy optics?

I'm not sure how specific you want to get on "where to buy optics" - if you
are trying to make up a list of where to get them in various areas, I can
suggest some definite places in the southern NJ/Philadelphia area...

NJ Audubon Society - Rancocas Nature Center
Rancocas Road
Westhampton NJ

Edmund Scientific (actually, a wonderful place for all manner of stuff :)
Barrington NJ

I think there's also a conservation/nature store in the Cherry Hill (NJ) mall
that carries some optics.  Edmund would definitely have one of the widest
selections anywhere, as they're a comprehensive scientific-supply store.  I
really do have to go there again sometime.

-Shag

-- 
birchall@pilot.njin.net, shag@glia.biostr.washington.edu, birchall@njin.bitnet
  Operator of ShagNet - Rutgers/NJIN dialup access for Burlington County, NJ
     Happy and informative user of a PPI 14400 FaxModem and GeoWorks Pro
       Editor of the Queensryche E-mail Digest - "Screaming in Digital"
From: tony@zoo.toronto.edu (Anthony L. Lang)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Bird watching at night
Date: 24 Jan 93 19:28:29 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

>
>In article <josh.727641751@pogo> josh@cqs.washington.edu (Josh Hayes) writes:
>>On a related question, has anyone had any success "jacklighting"
>>birds; that is, going out at night with a nice bright spotlight
>>and catching eyeshine?
>
In article: <1jmsi7INNsjm@shelley.u.washington.edu>
 toby@stein.u.washington.edu (Toby Bradshaw) writes:

>Works especially well for goatsuckers, which have an intense red
>eyeshine.
>

In my experience CHUCK-WILL'S WIDOW (Caprimulgus sp.) has
red eye-shine and the COMMON NIGHTHAWK (Chordieles minor)
has blue eye-shine.  I wonder if this extends to other
members of these genera.  Anyone know?  How about 
other families?
-- 

Anthony Lang
Dept. of Zoology, 
University of Toronto
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: rising@zoo.toronto.edu (Jim Rising)
Subject: Birding at Night (edited)
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 21:49:14 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

That first sentence should be "Many birds feed extensively at night."
Oh well.  I guess that most "feed extensively."
Sorry.
-- 
Name:     Jim Rising
Mail:     Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada    M5S 1A1
UUCP:     uunet!attcan!utzoo!rising 
BITNET:   rising@zoo.utoronto.ca
From: davec@Autodesk.COM (Dave Cooper)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: HELP: Best travel destination(s) for bird-watching???
Date: 25 Jan 93 23:27:43 GMT
Organization: Autodesk Inc., Sausalito CA, USA

bethp@milton.u.washington.edu (Beth Plotkin) writes:
> HELP: What are some of the best travel destinations in the world
> for bird watching?  All opinions welcome!

Beth,

Well in a few days I will take off for a parrot-tracking visit to
Australia. If you look at Forshaw's "Parrots of the World" you'll
notice that Australia has an enormous number of species and abundant
populations of psittacines. Considering comfort, accessibility, and
the fact that Australia is an English-speaking country... what could
be better!?

In my travels to Australia in the past, I've noticed that you don't
have to travel to far off places on that continent to see an amazing
variety of parrots --- even in urban environments like Sydney, there
are plenty of species to see.

I will try and remember to post my report when I return in six weeks.

Whilst living in Zambia during the 1950's and 1960's, I was witness
to enough variety and population to keep me very busy indeed. Things are
slightly different in Africa today --- wildlife in general has been
drastically reduced. Protection of wildlife has not been as concerted
and efficient as in Australia.

Another destination I considered for parrot-tracking was Costa Rica.
However, it was more difficult to arrange accommodation and to secure
a comfortable trip as was Australia.

So they loaded up the truck, and moved to Sydney...

Cheers

DAVE
From: palmer@icat.larc.nasa.gov (Michael T. Palmer)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Purple Martin's Arrival
Date: 25 Jan 93 19:03:58 GMT
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA  USA
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: icat.larc.nasa.gov

mark@austin.ibm.com (Mark Einkauf) writes:


>I know Purple Martin's will be returning soon.  I have my house up and waiting for 
>them.  I'm in central Texas and have not seen any yet.  Can some of you in	
>the southern US post to this group when you begin to see the birds?  It would 
>be nice to know the progress of their return in case some of us are waiting to	
>put our house up.

YES, PLEASE!  I'm in Southeastern Virginia, so I'd like to know when people
in Florida, Georgia, South & North Carolina start seeing the first ASY (adult)
males coming back.  This'll help me know when to put the house up, since I
have seen quite a bit of variability of when they show up and start squawking
at my bare pole.


>  In my case, if I start having problems with Sparrows or
>Starlings, I might take my house down, or cover it, until I knew the Martins were
>close.  If I knew where they were, I'd have a good chance of getting everything	
>ready just before they arrive, thereby limiting the Sparrows/Starlings' chance
>to move in first.  Thanks.

How many years have you had martins at that site?  If they've been there a
while they should at least TRY to kick out the starlings & sparrows.  We have
lost some martins and martin eggs during these battles, though.  If you don't
have too many starlings & sparrows around, you might try setting up other
(less desirable) bird houses for them to see if they'll leave the martin house
alone.  We have too many for this to work, though... we'd just be *attracting*
more to our backyard.

Let me know when yours arrive!  We normally have to wait until first week of
April, at the earliest.

-- 
Michael T. Palmer         |  "A man is crazy who writes a secret in any
m.t.palmer@larc.nasa.gov  |   other way than one which will conceal it
RIPEM key on server       |   from the vulgar." - Roger Bacon
From: Joe.Morlan@f20.n125.z1.fidonet.org
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: HELP: Best travel de
X-Sender: newtout 0.07 Jan 18 1993
Date: 26 Jan 93  15:04:00

> There is a local there who speaks excellent English who will
> give guided tours just for bird watchers.  Unfortunately, I
> can't remember his name.

Is it Manuel Lomeli?

--Joe Morlan, Albany, CA
Joe.Morlan@f20.n125.z1.fidonet.org.

--- Maximus/2 2.01wb
From: toby@stein.u.washington.edu (Toby Bradshaw)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: yard raptors
Date: 26 Jan 1993 19:45:09 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: stein.u.washington.edu

After four years in the suburbs of Seattle, with a trained Harris'
hawk to help me spot the high-fliers:

bald eagle (causes the Harris' hawk to lay prone and quiet)
sharp-shinned hawk (regular winter predator at feeder)
Cooper's hawk (occasional year-round feeder marauder)
red-tailed hawk
merlin (likes to bounce house finches off the windows)
peregrine (several, like to come in and scope out the Harris')

Toby Bradshaw                       |
Department of Biochemistry          |  Will make genetic linkage maps
and College of Forest Resources     |            for food.
University of Washington, Seattle   |
toby@u.washington.edu               |


Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: andrewt@watson.ibm.com (Andrew Taylor)
Subject: Re: HELP: Best travel destination(s) for bird-watching???
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 03:45:55 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Keywords: travel, bird-watching

In article <bethp.727892840@milton> bethp@milton.u.washington.edu (Beth Plotkin) writes:
>HELP: What are some of the best travel destinations in the world
>for bird watching?  All opinions welcome!

My nomination for the single best birdwatching location in the world is
the shores of Kenya's two large freshwater rift valley lakes -
Lake Naivasha and Lake Baringo.

An incredible diversity of birds.  Not as quite as many species as the best
tropical rainforest locations but much easier to watch.

Andrew Taylor
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: ssouther@ent1.ent.ncsu.edu (P. Sterling Southern)
Subject: Re:  field notes
Originator: ssouther@ent1.ent.ncsu.edu
Organization: Dept. of Entomology - NCSU, Raleigh, NC
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 18:28:45 GMT

I think the idea of a small recorder to tape your notes is a good one if
one of your primary interests is the description of unidentified birds.
As someone else mentioned, you can observe and record at the same time.
On the other hand, a drawing is better in documenting a rarity.  One
warning, its awfully easy to never get around to transcribing field
notes off the tape for a permanent record.

I have had some success with 5"X7" note cards and a small or cutdown
clipboard (one with a low profile clip).  Using these eliminates the
problem of losing notes made on previous trips.  Date each on the top
and keep them in a file box.
-- 
| Sterling Southern, NCSU-Entomology, Box 7613, Raleigh NC 27695-7613   |
|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
| Voice: (919) 515-2703      |  CAROLINE: ssouther@ent1                 |
| FAX:   (919) 515-7746      |  INTERNET: ssouthern@ent.ncsu.edu        |
From: gbrower@acpub.duke.edu (Gary Brower)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re:  field notes
Date: 24 Jan 93 11:21:41 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Duke University; Durham, N.C.

I've tried the tape-recorder method for recording bird notes (as opposed to
bird song :-)).  I did have a problem getting around to transcribing them;
I guess it depends on your temperament.

Personally, I use a small (about 5x8) spiral bound notebook -- it's about
the same size as an Audubon Field Guide, and so fits in the same little
belt bag.

On the other hand, I was recently on a birding trip where I noticed that
someone had one of those "Day-at-a-glance" calendars (you know, every
day has a page devoted to it).  If you are primarily interested in keeping
track of birds seen, numbers, weather, etc, _and_ you do a lot of birding,
this looked like a great idea.  You would have all your records by year, etc.
If you do lots of extensive field notes, though, I doubt it would work
as well as a spiral book (or a recorder).

Gary
From: toby@stein.u.washington.edu (Toby Bradshaw)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Falconers and rec.birds
Date: 21 Jan 1993 16:17:50 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
NNTP-Posting-Host: stein.u.washington.edu

In article <C16MBJ.Fos@boi.hp.com> miken@boi.hp.com (Mike Nickerson) writes:

{friendly words for falconers deleted]

>The Peregrine Fund is now working with
>endangered species around the world such as:  Harpy Eagle, Bat Falcon, 
                                                            ^^^^^^^^^^
Not endangered, nor even rare in its habitat.  Bat Falcons were
acquired to get some experience with a presumed near-relative of the
Orange-breasted Falcon.  O-b Falcons turn out to be more common
than once believed, as well.  The traditional stakeout for O-b
Falcon is Temple 4 at Tikal (worth the trip just to be buzzed
by the falcons while standing atop a Mayan pyramid), but O-b Falcons
have been found along the Asumacinta River and nesting rather
frequently in emergent silk-cotton trees in the forest.  Because
silk-cotton trees are difficult to survey without an aircraft,
O-b Falcons were previously found only on "artificial cliffs" aka
Mayan ruins and along river bluffs.  Both Bat Falcons and O-b Falcons
are pretty peculiar anatomically, but they have no peers among
raptors in level flight speed.  I have seen both species in the
wild and as falconry birds, so I have some basis for comparison.


>Mauritius Kestrel and Orange-Breasted Falcon.  They started with falconry
>techniques to handle the bird and then developed specialized techinques
>such as artificial insemination for captive breeding.

Toby Bradshaw                       |
Department of Biochemistry          |  Will make genetic linkage maps
and College of Forest Resources     |            for food.
University of Washington, Seattle   |
toby@u.washington.edu               |
From: mbehrens@cs.utexas.edu (Mikael Behrens)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Do YOU Have Peregrine Falcon on YOUR Yard List?
Date: 26 Jan 93 06:19:46 GMT
Reply-To: mbehrens@cs.utexas.edu
Distribution: na

I haven't seen any Peregrines in my yard, but I HAVE seen a few  
Mississippi kites flying over the house.  By the way, out of four bird  
field guides I have, only the Peterson's _Hawks_ guide had a plate of a  
flying Mississippi Kite that looked anything like the real thing.

Any other interesting accounts of "yard raptors?"

--
Mikael Behrens              mbehrens@cs.utexas.edu (NeXTMail OK)
Computer Science student    University of Texas at Austin
From: shag@glia.biostr.washington.edu (Shag {Official Random})
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Need assistance ID'ing wren in NJ.
Date: 25 Jan 93 14:07:08 GMT
Organization: University of Washington
NNTP-Posting-Host: glia.biostr.washington.edu
Summary: It's got spots, can't find it in books.
Keywords: Foo, bar, baz, bird!

Watching the resident Carolina Wren here this morning, I was alerted to the
presence of another wren in the yard.  I watched it for a good 20 minutes on
a perch atop a brush pile at the edge of our woods.

Spotting marks:
	- small (3-3.5")
	- solid rufous back
	- unbarred buff underside
	- slight barring at or under wingtips
	- buff stripe above eye
	- dark area behind eye
	- pronounced white spots on shoulders and wings

Anyone have any idea what this wren is?  I looked in Golden (both editions),
Peterson, two Audubons (1 photos, 1 drawings), and the American Heritage books
of Audubon's own watercolor paintings, and couldn't find any with such visible
white spots.  None of the books illustrated plumage variances for immature 
wrens, so I'm totally at a loss.

Thanks,

	-Shag

-- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Dan "Shag" Birchall, Official Random, Jeff's Machine.		       +-+
| The University of Washington is not responsible for me.  Lucky them. | |
+-+--------------------------------------------------------------------+ |
From: sandee@Think.COM (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Bird Checklist
Date: 28 Jan 1993 16:46:34 GMT
Organization: TMC
NNTP-Posting-Host: tremor.quake.think.com

In article <1993Jan26.215757.16400@vlsi.polymtl.ca>, mathieu@quine (Philippe Mathieu) writes:
|>   Does anybody know anything about a list of all species of known birds on
|> the net (ftp...)? Is anybody interested in one? 
|> --
|> Philippe Mathieu (e-mail : mathieu@info.polymtl.ca)

Yes, there is interest. No, there isn't one, to my knowledge. (I can
provide you with the AOU Check-List and you can get the ABA checklist
on a floppy for $9).
We've discussed this before. To be useful, it must be a commonly used
checklist, i.e. Clements or Sibley&Monroe. We got stuck on copyright
issues and on the sheer effort of typing it in.

Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation
1010 El Camino Real, Suite 310
Menlo Park, CA 94025                                  (415) 329-9300
From: mbehrens@cs.utexas.edu (Mikael Behrens)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Bird watching at night
Date: 27 Jan 93 04:58:45 GMT
Reply-To: mbehrens@cs.utexas.edu
Distribution: usa

E. Giordano writes
| 
|     This may sound like an utterly stupid question -- BUT here
| goes anyway--can any real productive bird wathcing happen at night
| or past dusk aside from the logistical problem os not]
| being able to see--don't most bird hide or "sleep" at night,
| you never see them at the feeder after dusk and before
| dawn, and further ducks are never in the same place at night as 
| they are in the day--where do they go?

I took an ornithology class last spring and we went out a couple times at  
night.  We brought a few maglites and a big spotlight, and were looking  
for owls and goatsuckers.  I believe the general technique was to HEAR the  
bird first, and then try to locate it with the lights.

We met with very modest success.
--
Mikael Behrens              mbehrens@cs.utexas.edu (NeXTMail OK)
Computer Science student    University of Texas at Austin
"In this age of innovation and technology, one can make himself
very unpopular by asking what a particular innovation is FOR,
since the innovator often does not know, and this embarrasses
him."                                            Jeff Cooper
Newsgroups: rec.birds
From: max@currawong.bhs.mq.edu.au (Max Coltheart)
Subject: attracting birds
Organization: School of Behavioural Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 22:22:08 GMT

I've been in rainforest with an experienced birder who considered that
he could bring birds closer to within seeing distance by making sounds
which I can only describe as somewhere between squeaking and kissing
noises with his lips on the back of his hand. Now someone has given me
for Xmas an Audubon Bird Call, a little wooden implement which can be
made to emit extremely birdlike sounds, though none is a replica of any
real bird call.

Do either or both of these techniques work? Do they ever bring birds
closer so they can be seen, or seen better?

MaxC
From: dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu (David Mark)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: HELP: Best travel destination(s) for bird-watching???
Keywords: travel, bird-watching
Date: 25 Jan 93 01:42:46 GMT
Organization: UB

In article <bethp.727892840@milton> bethp@milton.u.washington.edu (Beth Plotkin) writes:
>HELP: What are some of the best travel destinations in the world
>for bird watching?  All opinions welcome!

That depends so much on what you want to get out of the trip!  Of the places
that I have been, I would nominate northeastern Australia, either the 
Brisbane region or the Cairns-Atherton area; and Costa Rica.  Other great
areas are southern Spain, southeast Arizona, and southern Texas.  All of
these areas have large numbers of species; attarctive landscapes; and
plenty of aesthetically-pleasing species.

Of places I have never been, I am most anxious to go to east Africa
(Kenya/Tanzania), or India.  Again, lots and lots of species, interesting
families of birds, etc.  

David Mark
dmark@sun.acsu.buffalo.edu
From: ka1gt@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (robert.m.atkins)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Binoculars Question
Date: 26 Jan 93 18:19:54 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T

In article <mick.728017855@picus>, mick@dcs.bbk.ac.uk (Mick Farmer) writes:
> Paul asks the meaning of 8 x 40 for bins.  The 8 is the
> magnification and the 40 is  the diameter of the objective
> lens.  The value 40 / 8 (i.e. 5) is a measure of the width
> of the field of view.  Thus 7 x 42 have a lower
> magnification, but a wider field of view -- better for
> following birds through trees relatively close to.
> 

The field of view is not directly defined by magnification. It is
a function of both magnification and eyepiece design. Thus a 10x50
binocular can have a wider field of view than a 7x50, if designed
to do so. The problem is that the quality of the image can get
quite poor at the edge of the field in a wide field design unless
you take a lot of care (i.e. expensive). Within any give power
binoculars (say 7x35s), each will probably have a different field
of view though all are 7 power. 

The diameter divided by the power (40/8 in the above example) has
nothing at all to do with field of view. It gives what is called
the "exit pupil" of the system (pretty much the diameter of the
rays of light coming out of the binocular and into your eye). 
By and large, the larger this number is, the brighter the image will
be in the dark. Numbers larger than 7(mm) provide no advantage since
most eyes cannot open their pupils wider than 7mm. Thus you see 7x50s
but not 5x50s. There are other factors affecting image brightness, but
exit pupil is probably the most important. The pupil of the eye
contracts in bright light (to maybe 3 or 4mm?), so in daylight exit
pupils larger than this do not give brighter images. This means that
in daylight 10x50s and 7x50s will give images which look equally bright,
but at night things will look brighter in the 7x50s (assuming good eyes).
Maximum pupil size decreases with age, so as you can see there are a few
other factors to consider!

Now back to birds...
===============================================================
Bob Atkins  AT&T Bell Labs  email (direct)  att!clockwise!rma
===============================================================