XemaSab are you around? or any other avian-o-philes

[Kali]

I found a small dk brown/grey bird (flycatcher?)- mummified - so no idea how old, but it has two plastic bands on it's right leg. the lower one, closer to the foot is red and white with the red nearest the foot. the upper one is blue (how patriotic) I don't see any other identifying info. does anybody care? should I report this somewhere?

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Yes. Report it. I would start with my area's wildlife department,

usually a state agency. If they are not the ones who banded the bird, they should know who to contact. These bands are really important to studies being done on bird populations.

[Kali]

2. sent an e-mail to AZ game and fish and the Southeast AZ Bird Observatory

G and F are not real responsive to this kind of stuff. Was hoping for direct info if she knew what organization might be using those type of bands.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. I hope you have luck. I found a website regarding banding

and there is not great info on colors as to who to contact. It also says that the placement on the legs is important, so you want to leave that as you found it.

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/homepage/aboutaux.htm#colorleg

On this same site, they have info on how to report found bands, but is rather onorous.

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/homepage/recwobnd.cfm

I hope you can find more info. I am sure someone wants to know about this bird. Sorry I can't do more.

[Kali]

6. didn't get very far, but thanks!

"Colored Leg Band Protocols

For many species including most small songbirds, there are too many banders using color bands at a local scale for the birds to be identifiable at the continental scale. Most of the colored leg band protocols use coded tarsal bands. "

[Curmudgeoness]

8. More local---are there Audobon Society groups around there?

I would hate to be in your shoes, I know I would be spinning wheels too.

[blaze]

3. Does this help?

http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/homepage/call800.htm

[blaze]

5. A little info on color banding

http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/NABB/v004n04/p0158-p0160.pdf

Don't know who you would report just the color coded bands to....

[Kali]

7. yeah seems like I need somebody local to contact

thanks, though!

will see what G and F or SABO have to say

[XemaSab]

9. There are no metal bands?

:shrug:

Can you get a picture? :D

[Kali]

10. no metal bands

hang on a sec for the pic - ye olde dial-up

edit oooo when I pulled some of the spider webs off I see there is a plain white one on the left leg

oops leg came off too:P

[XemaSab]

11. I got all night

:D

[Kali]

12. good

it may take that long!:mad:
(guess I should stop posting and let photobucket load, huh?)

[Kali]

13. here ya go!

sorry no tail feathers left

[XemaSab]

14. Don't throw it away!!!!

I'm going to see if I can scrounge up another opinion. :P

[Kali]

15. I don't throw specimens away!

sometimes the cats eat things though,

I think this is pretty old - the skin weevils or whatever they are have about finished and the felines aren't showing interest so far, will put it in a baggy.

Thanks for checking - I'm about to crash so will check back manana.

[XemaSab]

16. My best guess is that it's a Myiarchus flycatcher

but that could change. :P

(The part that I'm SUPER intrigued by is that it doesn't have a metal band. That's ringing some bells for me.)

[Kali]

17. Looking at my Petersons, the only one I saw with chin same color as head was a black phoebe

maybe it faded to brownish from age? lower beak is same color as upper which seems dark rather than light but also not black. will go look to see if I can find some tail feathers - cats do sometimes get small birds with the orange/rusty tail feathers - maybe it was a victim that sort of got a way.

[XemaSab]

18. It might be a bleached-out black phoebe

but the bill looks huge.

[Kali]

22. you are obviously more knowledgeable than me!

check out my reply #21 - there is a couple photos at theat link that really look like it

heard back from G & F - they were surprised at no metal band too. Sending the pix to them as well.

[Curmudgeoness]

19. You will have to research baby birds. This is a juvie.

You can still see a lot of down where the feathers just came out. I am not good at juveniles, but this is probably an insect eater, most likely catches on the wing. It may well be a phoebe. You can put it in a plastic bag and into the freezer to keep it from decomposing any further.

[Kali]

21. it is a mummy, not going to be much more decomposition as the weevils have already got to it

I am not really seeing the down - the feathers are pretty frizzled but it is fully feathered )I think the tail feathers just fell out or maybe a cat got them)

look at the photos here - just about exactly what this looks like
the painted illustrations show a much smoother animal and the white is more dramatic - but the photos are very close (the first one is even ruffled)

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/169/_/Black_Phoebe.aspx

[XemaSab]

23. I've had a few votes for aberrant black phoebe

and a vote for exotic escaped starling. :P

[Kali]

25. aaaww man no way

not a starling:rofl:

[XemaSab]

29. Don't hate on the starlings

[Kali]

30. dang what the heck is that?

don't look like no starlings I ever saw

[XemaSab]

33. Let's just say we got hosed on the starling front

Most of them are beautiful.

[XemaSab]

24. Is there a creek on your property?

:shrug:

[Kali]

26. there is now

:P

probably no water flowing when it died (I WISH we had perennial water) but we do have cottonwoods, ash, willow, and good sized mesquites along the canyon and around the house plus livestock waters

also a row of big pecan trees

[Curmudgeoness]

35. The picture there is an adult. I am not sure what bird this is,

but a Black Phoebe juvenile is described: Juvenile: plumage briefly held; similar to adult’s, but browner, with 2 cinnamon wing bars, cinnamon tips to the feathers on the upperparts.

I will stay with my first decision that this is a juvenile bird.

[tigereye]

20. aw, poor little thing...

fascinating question - so many creatures are banded these days...

[Kali]

27. we had one a few years ago that we were able to read and notify

whoever, and they sent a nice official note back (one of the kids found it so he got the note)

[MiddleFingerMom]

28. "oops leg came off too"

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DogWHOOP from MFM.
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BIG ol' dogWHOOP.
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If you were a veterinarian, I would LOVE to see the blooper reel from your practice!!!
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[RandomThoughts]

31. Although hostages are a bad concept.

Why would anyone negotiate with someone that claims to be able to neuter them?

LOL, although in that image he is not using the knife right, the cat is in the same boat as him.

So many people have that problem.

[jotsy]

32. Who told!?

A few weeks back, my golden retriever, Nugget found himself in the unfortunate position of becoming a chew toy for an unrestrained pit bull. Caught and nursed a lovely nick to the neck, but that was all, or so I thought...he ended up with this gnarly looking water balloon like lump and was walking around like the hunchback of Notre doggy. This was about 8 days later and went Dad gave it a squeeze, it burst. More unfortunately, even though we got it near completely drained over a couple of days, it came back even larger just overnight. Luckily we found a vet who is able to access grant funds to get him neutered while he was being treated for owies. I'd been meaning to get that done but money's been tight.

Your recent kitty cone head pic with the dignity caption says it all, it's clear to me he feels like a clumsy dork. Not to mention he seems majorly pissed off about having no jewels to pass off.

Miss Kali, what a marvelous steward of the planet you are!

[Kali]

34. wow - weird bird activity

at 8 in the morning - well after the sun has been up for 2 hours, there are several night hawks flying around! I don't think I have ever seen them like this during the day.

I wonder if ants or termites are flying - don't see them right now but they have been. Also we are having an invasion of what we always called alley bugs - some kind of bug bug crawling all over the house.

Odd.

[Curmudgeoness]

36. Did you ever get any answers on this from authorities?

Just wondering.

[Kali]

37. state agency and a guy from the U of A both

said "huh, shoulda had a metal tag too" (paraphrasing) and said they would pass on the info to anybody they knew working in the area

nobody guessed or verified species

and the private org never replied

so now I have a mummified bird in a baggie sitting on a "specimen" shelf with some other small skeletal stuff and there it will probably stay until the weavils finish the skin or I decide to chuck it (talking years, I don't throw anything away) :P

[Curmudgeoness]

38. Thanks for the update. Your "specimen" shelf sounds creepy.

I have on like that, but it is only bones, mostly skulls. Don't tell anyone, I think it is illegal even though these were just found items.

Odd, I wonder who banded the bird and did it without the metal tag, which seems standard procedure. Oh well, too bad that you couldn't help someone with data on their study, because obviously someone put those bands on for a reason.

You tried. And who knows what comes down in the future.

[XemaSab]

39. I have a shelf too

No flycatchers, though. :P

[Kali]

40. actually,

I have several shelves, various piles in the yard, space in the freezer, and a whole front porch:rofl: :hide:

[XemaSab]

41. I have space in the freezer

the carport, a shelf, and a cooler in the shop. :hide:

[Kali]

42. oh oh oh

forgot the wall in the barn! chain-o-cow skulls!

[XemaSab]

43. Thanks for the Aretha Franklin earworm

:P

[XemaSab]

44. Then there's the badger on the desk

The first night I got it home from the taxidermist I came home from the bars, saw it out of the corner of my eye, and just about had a heart attack.

Memories. :D