rising@utzoo.uucp (Jim Rising) (10/10/89)
I'd vote for the starling. As I understand it, it was difficult to introduce the House Sparrow into N.A. TOok several trys. But the starling took off after the first introduction. -- Name: Jim Rising Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1 UUCP: uunet!attcan!utzoo!rising BITNET: rising@utzoo.utoronto.bitnet
jklee@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (James Kin Wah Lee) (10/11/89)
How about rock dove? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Lee (jklee@phoenix.Princeton.EDU) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dept. of Geol. & Geophys. Sci. * ONLY IN CANADA, YOU SAY? * Princeton University * PITY ..... * Princeton, NJ 08544 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * --------------------------------------------------------------------------
mostardi@ux1.lbl.gov (David Mostardi) (10/12/89)
In article <1989Oct10.134119.608@utzoo.uucp> rising@utzoo.uucp (Jim Rising) writes: >I'd vote for the starling. As I understand it, it was difficult >to introduce the House Sparrow into N.A. TOok several trys. But >the starling took off after the first introduction. When I was a zoology student at UC Berkeley, the ornithologists there said that the red-winged blackbird was the most common North American bird. PS. What about the rock dove? ****************************************************************** David Mostardi "Guess what, Dad! Those chocolate MSRI, Berkeley CA diskettes fit right into your david@msri.org computer, no problem!"
dmark@acsu.Buffalo.EDU (David Mark) (10/12/89)
In article <1989Oct10.134119.608@utzoo.uucp> rising@utzoo.uucp (Jim Rising) writes: >I'd vote for the starling. As I understand it, it was difficult >to introduce the House Sparrow into N.A. TOok several trys. But >the starling took off after the first introduction. Actually, there were several Sturnus vulgaris introductions in North America, including Boston and Portland (Ore), long before the NY City introduction in 1890. The Oregon birds established a population that lasted for a couple of decades before dying out. Fisher and Peterson's "The World of Birds" states that the European Starling and House Sparrow are probably the world's most common wild birds. But, they claim that there are more domestic chickens (see below). In article <3941@helios.ee.lbl.gov> david@msri.org (David Mostardi) writes: >When I was a zoology student at UC Berkeley, the ornithologists >there said that the red-winged blackbird was the most common >North American bird. > >PS. What about the rock dove? > Other common and numerous NA birds that would be "contenders" are American Robin, Barn Swallow, and Savannah Sparrow. Largest Christmas Bird Count numbers (per 15 mile diameter circle) are icterids and starlings. The 1984 Evangeline Co, Louisiana, CBC had: Red-winged Blackbird: 39,800,000 Brown-headed Cowbird: 19,600,000 Common Grackle: 2,095,700 European Starling: 1,625,125 All other species: 22,145 Total: 63,142,970 Passenger Pigeons numbered about 5,000,000,000 in a typical autumn migration. A limitless resource, eh? Hmmm.... World's most numerous bird species is, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea) of Africa: 10,000,000,000. This is way more than the Fisher & Peterson chicken estimate of 3 billion! Wilson's Storm-Petrel is another very very numerous bird. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= David Mark dmark@cs,buffalo.edu =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
king@cbnewsk.ATT.COM (joyce.l.king) (10/12/89)
When I bought my first farm, in 1965 (I was a 3 years old :^)...), a tent caterpiller plague hit the community. Every other farmer in the area sprayed. I couldn't afford to spray, having just spent my last dime. Huge flocks of starlings from nearby Cincinnati came out every day and feasted on my fuzzy worms. The next year all the farms were hit again, but mine (which had a lot of old apple trees and was a prime candidate for the little buggers) had many fewer tents. Every year the neighbors would spray and spray, and every year they'd get them back, but I guess the birds were more effective than spray, because mine cleared out in a couple of years and I never had a problem. For all I know, the neighbors still have a problem. I've been a starling fan ever since. Joyce Andrews King (from the Florida Keys via modern communications)