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Posted by Bill Pranty on 11:24:31 01/09/07
In Reply to: Re: More On The Possible North Ft. Myers Mountain Bluebird posted by Jeff Toll
Good morning all,
Insectivorous birds often visit feeders "up north" during winter because no other food may be available (snow cover, no flowers in bloom, etc.). Varied Thrushes, Cape May Warblers, and Pinted Redstarts eating commercial bird seed at "northern" backyard feeders are good examples.
But we don't ever have that situation in southern Florida, where we never have snow and where flowers are always in bloom and insects are still at least somewhat frequent. A trip to Everglades National park duringwinter usually yields sighting such as Cape May Warblers or Baltimore Orioles eating figs or other fruit, and we've all seen flocks of American Robins or Cedar Waxwings gorging on Brazilian Peppers or other fruits.
Vagrants often do strange things in desperation (see first parargraph), but generally they behave no differently than in their typical range -- the bird typically has o idea that it is "lost."
So yes, atypical behavior such as a Mountain Bluebird visiting a feeder filled with popcorn is a sign that maybe the ID of the bird needs to be reconsidered.
Birders often use cues other than plumage -- such as behavior, vocalizations, geographic likelihood, sedanatariness vs. the tendency of a species to vagrate, whether or not an "invasion year" for a species, etc. -- to identify birds. And since the "plumage" coloration of this bird has been called into question (i.e, is it actually all dzrk gray?), then other cues must be used to (try to) identify the bird.
I have already commented on the ID of the Fort Myers bird as a Florida Scrub-Jay (providing that the color of the bird in the image is accurate -- if it's not, then we really need to cease dscussion f its identity, since the possibilities are then increased to dozens of choices instead of a very few -- http://www.tropicalaudubon.org/tasboard/messages/13722.html.
Best regards,
Bill Pranty
Bayonet Point, Florida
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