GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : longislandhunter April 12, 2007, 07:28:21 AM
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Paul,, aka Theox, had an interesting idea. He proposed listing information on the Hunting Gate that would enable us to accurately identify a bird species in order to assist in determining if a bird is in fact a legitimate "pest" animal. I'm attaching a link to the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology to this post and will "sticky" the post so it's available for future reference. Of course once you correctly I.D. a bird you will have to check with your particular states regulations regarding which birds are listed as "pests". To assist with that I've also included a link that lists the Game and Fish agencies in all 50 states, just click on your state. If this resource doesn't work out, or you decide it's not necessary just let me know and I'll delete it. Thanks for a good idea Paul. :)
Here's the Cornell link......
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/
Here's the "DNR" link........
http://www.realtree.com/resources/dnrs.php
Jeff
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Here's another one where you can look up a bird by silouette.
http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/bio/birds/main/ident/bvk1.htm
And here's another one. I use this one allot as it lets you choose by process of Elimination . Wing shape, size, color etc. :
http://whatbird.wildbird.com/mwg/_/0/attrs.aspx
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A friend of mine sent me this link to a website that can be used to identify different animals including birds, and also includes sound files:
http://www.enature.com
Bryan
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Hate to be a spoilsport, but keep in mind there's a huge number of birds protected by the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act which is under jurisdiction at a level above any state agency. Here's a site with a lotta text but not photos: http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/intrnltr/mbta/mbtintro.html (sorry don't know how to make a link on this forum)
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Here is another site you might look at . If you go to page 2 the pictures come up and then if you click on the picture it will enlarge .Marvin
http://www.angelfire.com/pe2/digiscoping/Page_9.htm
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I guess the ones i'm talking about must be herons. Sorry wrong area.
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Starlings and Europeon House sparrows are fair game all the time.
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For hunters in Texas, the following applies (excerpted from the Texas Parks & Wildlife hunting regulations):
"Unprotected Birds:
The only birds not protected by any state or federal law are European starlings, English sparrows, feral rock doves (common pigeon - Columba livia) and Eurasian collared-doves; these species may be killed at any time, their nests or eggs destroyed, and their feathers may be possessed.
Yellow-headed, red-winged, rusty, or Brewer's blackbirds and all grackles, cowbirds (does not include cattle egret), crows, or magpies may be controlled without a federal or state depredation permit when found committing or about to commit depredations on ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, livestock, or wildlife, or when concentrated in numbers and in a manner that constitutes a health hazard or other nuisance."
Evidently it's left to interpretation as to what constitutes depredation, a health hazard, or nuisance for the second grouping of birds.
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As far as I know there are 2 specie of birds in the USA that are listed as a nuisance. The house sparrow and the starling.Pigeons and blackbirds doing damage to crops may also be scared off or destroyed. In my area ( the upper midwest ) I think you have to contact state authorities and they do the control work. To my knowledge all other songbirds and raptors (birds of prey) and bats are federally protected. As far as I know.
Chas
You aint lost if you don't care where you are.
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what about grouses,
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I posted this below, but I'll add it here for the identification resource link.
I'm pretty passionate about drastically reducing the invasive species. It's such a stupid thing that people have done and it drives me bonkers to see folks actively encouraging them, especially once they know that they're invasive. I can only surmise that folks have no real grasp of the environmental damage (i.e. near monoculture or bi-culture of birds) that sparrows and starlings can do. They've nearly wiped out Bluebirds in our area.
What's cool, however, is that you can almost immediately see the benefits of an eradication program. In one season, I've transformed my neighborhood from a starling-sparrow-Pigeon haven to a zone where there are 2 pairs of chickadees feeding, hairy and downy wood*_*_*_*_*_*s, tons of gold finches, cardinals, junkos, titmice, and a number of other birds feeding and breeding.
To that end, I strongly advocate shooting and where you can't get a good clean shot, trapping both sparrows and starlings.
But, with such an advocacy, there's a very real need for some pretty discerning identification skills. There are song birds that look a lot like European house sparrows, especially female sparrows. And there are sparrows that are native (and wonderful--beautify songs). We need to be careful.
Here's a great link for differentiating between HOSPS and similar "brown birds".
http://www.sialis.org/otherbrownbirds.htm
One rule of thumb, make sure that the breast is plain and not ticked or mottled. Also, make sure you keep binoculars handy. It's shocking how similar a house finch and a sparrow look from behind at certain times of the year. Make sure you can check out that breast (which is yet another reason for the new gun and scope).
I'll occasionally post more on this stuff, but I wanted to keep banging the good ID drum here, just like I bang the "don't feed, but kill" HOSP's on birder sites.
BTW, it's very odd, but once I started working on the sparrows, I've become something of a birder. I've always been an outdoors man, but never have I had much interest in watching birds. Now, after I've killed a hundred or so sparrows in a year, I'm absolutely enthralled by all the OTHER species.
M