This is intended to be a blog-like page where I comment on recent postings and provide the latest news about the Sungrebe at Bosque del Apache. I will post by date as news occurs, latest date will be at the top of the page. On Page 1 (11/19) I will have a map of the Marsh loop at Bosque del Apache NWR (BAR) to show and discuss the birds "range". 11/24/08. Today the refuge opened up the road along the south end of the ditch. Early reports of the Sungrebe's presence did not pan out and the bird was not found. A number of people looked at the full length of the ditch and people even walked the edge of the ditch in case the bird was hiding in the grass, but nothing appeared. No carcass was found, so it is likely that the bird moved to a new location at some point since last Tuesday. This will be my last post unless there are further and positive developments. 11/23/08. NO change today. 11/22/08. Today there were a couple of early unsubstantiated reports of sightings. There is a young Pied-billed Grebe in the ditch that wanders the full length between the 2nd and 3rd wiers and could well be mistaken for the Sungrebe when it's down at wier2. 11/21/08. Also not seen today. On the origin front, this species does not appear to be kept in zoological collections. There have been several reports of people seeing them in zoos, but when the zoos are contacted, these have all turned out to be incorrect, It appears that many persons are misremembering Sun Bitterns as Sungrebe. 11/20/08. The bird was not seen again today with people in attendance all day at Audio Stop 8. While leading the Black Belt Birding tour, I was able to look downstream from wier2 (see map below), but not able to exit the van for a thorough look and I saw nothing. You can see about 100-150 yards farther downstream from this location than you can see from the Audio stop. 11/19/08. The bird was not seen today from the tour loop. There were persistent, unconfirmed, rumors that refuge staff had seen the bird between wiers 1 and 2 (see map below). The refuge chief biologiest has indicated that he will allow short tours to enter the area AFTER the Crane Festival is over and the crowed have dissipated (= next week). 11/18/08. Speculations about the bird's origin are moot at this point. So far as I know, rumors that Sungrebe is the most common caged bird in Tijuana (or Juarez) are at best misleading. I've seen several references that indicate that the bird has vagrated to Trinidad (though I've not seen a bonafide record of such) and HBW indicates that it is capable of long distance flight. No documented evidence of it's occurance as a caged bird has yet surfaced, only rumors. All of this will get sorted out in due time and rumors only add confusion. History: The bird was found and photographed along the BAR Marsh Loop on 11/13 by Sally King. She showed the photos to the volunteers at the visitor's center and it was misidentified as a Red-necked Grebe (closest thing in a US Field Guide) and so entered into the visitor's sighting log. On Monday Sally showed the photos to Stephen Fettig at work and he correctly reidentified the bird as a Sungrebe. Stephen put out the word with copies of the photo later in the day. I got a call from him at about 8 p.m. and confirmed the id of the bird. Tuesday morning, we eventually got the location pinned down to the E-W ditch just south of the Boardwalk parking area near the SW corner of the Marsh loop. We looked around the area for a couple of hours with no luck and so headed out. I drove the rest of the marsh loop and ran into the bird at Audio Stop 8. The bird was feeding, seen to be picking small flies off the surface as it worked slowly along next to the west bank of the ditch. The area the bird is frequenting is actually on the same ditch and about a mile upstream from where Sally had photographed it on11/13. Refer to the map of the south end of the marsh loop below (sorry for the cudeness). During the next hour and a half that I was present, the bird worked it's way north (upstream) along the ditch, flying up about 2-foot at wier3 and proceeded on north. I left short after the bird jumped the wier. The bird continued north to where the ditch apparently (from the bird's point of view) ends at about a 5 foot dirt berm near Audio Stop 9. It then tuned around and worked back south. It reportedly worked on back south to the restricted area and eventually flew on back south to the area of wier 2, about 200 yards south into the restricted area. I returned at about 4 p.m. and the bird could be seen with a scope as it worked the area X3, just north of wier 2. Note the restricted area (old marsh loop road). We have been assured that it is a $150 fine to enter the area. The refuge staff checked in on us regularly during the day.  |
