Wednesday, May 23, 2007

* Avian Immigrants

I see on the news that an Indian Peafowl is loose in Santa Fe, NM, having eluded the authorities for over two days. As one news site so brilliantly informs us, "Peacocks aren’t native to New Mexico, so animal control officers assume he’s an escaped pet."

I implore these people: please catch it! Avian immigration has long been a curse to native bird populations. (I'm being both serious and tongue-in-cheek here.) Where were these animal-control people when the House Sparrows and the European Starlings were let loose in New York City in the 19th century? We must catch this—thing—before its concupiscent ways (as with most over-breeding foreigners) lead to a vast reduction in our native grouse, quail, and turkey populations. (Oh, wait—we've already taken care of that.)

A final, totally serious aside: in the last year or two, I've noticed good numbers of an other introduced immigrant, the Eurasian Collared-Dove, in both eastern and western South Dakota, rapidly expanding its range from the southeastern U.S. (It had only become an established U.S. resident, in Florida, in—1982!) I'm not sure how native Mourning Doves are going to be affected by this interloping cousin; all I know is that this new bird's wheezy, jay-like ehn ehn is just plain creepy. (For some reason, I'm reminded of the then-utterly-alien, ironically incongruent strains of "Gary Owen," as played by Custer's men on their way to Black Kettle's camp.)

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