[SBB] FW: Request for Yellow-chevroned Parakeet sightings - SF

["Kris Olson" <[[email protected]]>]

Thought that SF birders (and Sunnyvale?) might be interested in the specific
aspects of this request for information about parakeets. There is a report
form at the end of this email message from Kimball Garrett.

Kris Olson


-----Original Message-----
From: Kimball Garrett [mailto:[[email protected]]] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 4:47 PM
To: Kris Olson 
Subject: RE: [SFBirds] FW: Request for Yellow-chevroned Parakeet sightings -
SF

Thanks for your interest.  Counting parrots is, of course, almost
impossible, but we've found that if we compile enough sightings we can
get a pretty good idea of distribution and abundance.  This year we are
making a special push to get detailed information on Yellow-chevroned
and White-winged Parakeets.

The most helpful thing would be to report (by e-mail to me) specific
sightings of Yellow-chevroned and White-winged Parakeets (date, time,
place, number of birds of each species, etc.).  We have some idea of the
size of the Dolores Park area flocks, but we're still unclear on the
relative numbers of White-wingeds and Yellow-chevroneds. [In 2002 our
rough estimate was 40 White-wingeds and 10 Yellow-chevroneds -- does
this seem reasonable?]  From Patricia Arrowood's work in the late 1970s
we know that 12-17 White-wingeds were present at that time, but she
observed only one Yellow-chevroned.  Things have clearly changed, but it
is clear that the establishment of Yellow-chevroned Parakeets has not
eliminated the population of White-wingeds.  This makes San Francisco an
especially interesting situation (in the Los Angeles area
Yellow-chevroneds have almost completely replaced White-wingeds).

So any specific sightings and numbers are most welcome.

Best,

Kimball 



Kimball L. Garrett
Ornithology Collections Manager
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
900 Exposition Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90007
(213) 763-3368
(213) 746-2999 FAX
[[email protected]]


Message: 1         
   Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:09:11 -0700
   From: "Kimball Garrett" <[[email protected]]>
Subject: Request for Yellow-chevroned  Parakeet sightings

Birders:

 

I'm repeating (again - sorry) my request for sightings of Yellow-chevroned
and White-winged Parakeets.  We're up to almost 300 sightings for the year,
but I'd like to continue to gather data for all seasons.  Additionally,
we've had no or very few reports from many areas where Yellow-chevroneds
likely occur, so I'm especially interested in these following areas:

            San Fernando Valley

            Palos Verdes Peninsula/San Pedro areas

            Orange County

            Eastern San Gabriel Valley/Pomona Valley

            San Francisco Bay area

But please do continue to send in all sightings - see below for format. And
thanks!!

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

 Among the most dramatically increasing naturalized parrots in the Los
Angeles region is the Yellow-chevroned Parakeet (Brotogeris chiriri). This
species was formerly known as the "Canary-winged Parakeet", but that taxon
was recently split into the Yellow-chevroned and the White-winged Parakeet
(B. versicolurus).  A few White-winged Parakeets may persist on the Palos
Verdes Peninsula, and small numbers also occur in the San Francisco Bay
area.  The Yellow-chevroned Parakeet, through a procedural quirk, is on the
ABA North America checklist but not currently on any official state or
provincial checklist.  Although we cannot predict whether new information
will support the addition of this species to the California list, it is
certainly important to obtain such information.  We gathered fairly thorough
information on Yellow-chevroned and White-winged Parakeets in the mid-1990s
(see Western Birds 28[4]:181-195, 1997), but it is clear that
Yellow-chevroneds are continuing to expand their range and numbers.  It is
time to get a good snapshot of the numbers and distribution of
Yellow-chevroneds, and I ask for your help.

 During the calendar year 2005, please e-mail me sightings of
Yellow-chevroned Parakeets (and of White-winged Parakeets if you run across
any) in the following format:

YOUR NAME/CONTACT INFO [presumably in e-mail signature]

SPECIES: Yellow-chevroned Parakeet [or....]

DATE:

TIME OF DAY:

EXACT LOCATION [be specific - street intersection or address, park name,
etc.]

NUMBER OF BIRDS IN FLOCK:

FLYING? [DIRECTION?]

FEEDING? [TREE SPECIES? FOOD TYPE?]

NESTING? [give details]

OTHER BEHAVIOR:

ANY OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST:

DOCUMENTATION [If you can obtain photos, feel free to send them]

 Please DO NOT e-mail me directly with routine sightings of other parrots
- you can continue reporting them through the California Parrot Project web
site:

http://natureali.org/parrot_project/Parrot_Project.html
    We have learned from work with Amazona and Aratinga parrots that the
best way to pin down population size is to count birds at roost sites; so I
am especially interested in information about definite or potential
nighttime roosting sites of Brotogeris parakeets.

 Please feel free to cross-post this request to other listserves (besides
LACoBirds and CalBirds) in southern California and in the San Francisco Bay
area.




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