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Posted by Andy Kratter on 09:33:54 09/29/08
Florida birders:
This is a great find and it is wonderful that such great documentation is being taken. Hopefully lots of it will reach the FOS Record Committee (none has yet). There are only three solid records for Florida: one photographed in Miami in November 1970; one photographed in Miami in October 1988; and a sight report (FOSRC 90-199) accepted by the FOSRC from Marco Island in March 1990. There are a few additional sight reports that have not been assessed by the FOSRC. This is the first breeding record for Florida, and the first for the United States of this subspecies.
As Bob Wallace pointed out, Texan birds (T. d. brachypterus) are a different subspecies than West Indian birds (T. d. dominicensis), the bill being longer in the West Indian bird. If the birds are split in the future (nothing on the radar screen currently at the AOU-CLC), then the Florida bird would be an additional ABA tick if you also have the Texan birds.
FOSRC records form are at the FOS website (http://www.fosbirds.org/forms/FOSReportForm.htm). Documentation can be sent to me as attachments email at this address, or to:
Andy Kratter
Florida Museum of Natural History
Box 117800
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
It would also be nice to post some photos on the FOSRC website.
Great find!
Andy Kratter
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