[mou] Great Tit(s) mystery perhaps solved
Wildchough@aol.com
Wildchough@aol.com
Sat, 5 Jun 2004 22:10:22 EDT
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In recent weeks/months there have been Great Tits recorded near Grand Marais,
MN, EC WI (pair), and last year (also this year) in McHenry County, IL (pair
and young!!) plus reports of Linnet (Whitefish Pt., MI), Greenfinch (IL and
WI), Blue Tit (IL), and Eurasian Siskin (WI I believe) and maybe other European
passerines. While some of us speculated a possible wild origin for the Great
Tit (Tit handbook notes eastern Siberian population prone to wander, recent
increases in this population, and there is one unsubstantiated AK record), the
true answer is likely more mundane. The recent issue of the Meadowlark (IL)
notes bird sleuthers in McHenry County located an individual that imports
numbers of these birds and might be the source for them. There would appear to be
empty niches for other species of tits in this country considering how
prevalent the family is in similarly vegetated western Europe. Stay tuned and report
any exotics at your feeders. My initial attempts to find out how many exotic
birds are introduced into the USA annually has run into a bureaucratic morass
in DC. Bob Russell, Dakota County
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<HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=3D2 PTSIZE=3D10 FAMILY=
=3D"SANSSERIF" FACE=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0">In recent weeks/months there have b=
een Great Tits recorded near Grand Marais, MN, EC WI (pair), and last year (=
also this year) in McHenry County, IL (pair and young!!) plus reports of Lin=
net (Whitefish Pt., MI), Greenfinch (IL and WI), Blue Tit (IL), and Eurasian=
Siskin (WI I believe) and maybe other European passerines. While some=
of us speculated a possible wild origin for the Great Tit (Tit handbook not=
es eastern Siberian population prone to wander, recent increases in this pop=
ulation, and there is one unsubstantiated AK record), the true answer is lik=
ely more mundane. The recent issue of the Meadowlark (IL) notes bird s=
leuthers in McHenry County located an individual that imports numbers of the=
se birds and might be the source for them. There would appear to be em=
pty niches for other species of tits in this country considering how prevale=
nt the family is in similarly vegetated western Europe. Stay tun=
ed and report any exotics at your feeders. My initial attempts to find=
out how many exotic birds are introduced into the USA annually has run into=
a bureaucratic morass in DC. Bob Russell, Dakota County</FONT></HTML>
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