Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!boulder!sunybcs!bingvaxu!leah!gmr044
From: gmr044@leah.Albany.Edu (Gregg Recer)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: most common bird and outdoor birds
Message-ID: <2084@leah.Albany.Edu>
Date: 13 Oct 89 13:59:08 GMT
Organization: The University at Albany, Computer Services Center
Lines: 68


With regard to the "most common bird" discussion, in a book I have,
_The Complete Birder_ by, I think the name is Jack Conner, he suggests
that the most numerous breeding bird in NA is the red-eyed vireo.  I
have no data to confirm or reject this, just throwing it out for
general consumption.  These certainly aren't as conspicuous as
starlings or house sparrows but my wife and I do find them quite
frequently during the summer in the Adirondacks.  If they're not the
most numerous, they are certainly the most vocal birds we've heard.
In the above-mentioned book reference is made to a record where one
observer counted the same song repeated something like 20000 times
from one individual bird during one day.  BTW, I strongly recommend
this book.  The narrative is quite entertaining and at the same time
there is a lot of useful information on identification techniques for
the toughest groups of birds.

On a different front, Rick Faltersack writes:


>I am interested in keeping some pet birds outside. A small
>flock of budgies, maybe cockatiels. How would one go about
>acclimating pet-store birds to year-round outside living
>(in Portland ORE) ?  I figure it must be possible:
>(1) These birds live outside in the wild.
>(2) There is a flock of ring-neck parakeets living wild
>in Hilsboro, OR, presumably offspring of escaped pets.

>I know I could go to the library and look it up, but its
>more fun to ask You!

>-rcf


I assume that you're considering an outdoor aviary set-up of some
kind.  Since I don't keep pet birds I don't have any useful advise but
the idea does concern me somewhat.  As you observed yourself escaped
cage birds can become established, if only locally, under some
circumstances.  This kind of exotic introduction is something to be
avoided at all costs, even though these kinds of things allow birders
the opportunity to find such interesting things as red-whiskered
bulbul's and European goldfinches right here in the US :^).  I realize
that this kind of occurrence seems like only a remote possibility but
this kind of thing is not uncommon, especially in places like Florida
where the climate is closer to that in the native habitat of many
exotic bird and fish species which are kept here as pets.  The source
of most of the established escapes in Florida, and perhaps elsewhere,
has been fish and bird farms but your aviary could just as easily be a
source of a new population of budgies, or whatever, in the Portland
area.  This may seem trivial but the effect on indigenous wildlife can
be severe in these cases (perhaps more true for introduced fish than
for birds but I don't know that bird introductions have been studied
much).  In any event, I hope you take this issue under serious
consideration as you plan your aviary.



Gregg



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     "In future you should delete the words crunchy frog and 
     replace them with the legend crunchy raw unboned real
     dead frog!!"  
                 -- Inspector Bradshaw, The Hygiene Division

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