Date: 7/1/25 10:14 am From: Nathan Pieplow <npieplow...> Subject: Re: [cobirds] Yellow Grosbeak (Larimer) - just wondering...
Hi all,
In 2006, I drove all the way to Albuquerque to see a Yellow Grosbeak. That
bird, I believe, was NOT accepted by the New Mexico Bird Records Committee.
It had three strikes against it:
- It had a bill deformity, which can be common in captive birds;
- It seemed unnaturally tame;
- It showed up in winter. (Summer is the expected season for wandering
Yellow Grosbeaks.)
The current crop of vagrants doesn't suffer from any of those suspicious
traits.
Furthermore, this species has established a pattern of vagrancy north of
Mexico this year. The Estes Park bird is the fourth this year (!!!!) for
Colorado, after birds in Arapahoe, Hinsdale, and Gilpin counties. Arkansas
got its first Yellow Grosbeak a few months back. Something is probably
happening to drive the species out of its normal home range in Mexico.
To sum up: all signs point to the Colorado grosbeaks being wild birds.
Nathan Pieplow
Boulder
On Tue, Jul 1, 2025 at 10:09 AM John Shenot <johnshenot...> wrote:
> To be clear, speaking as the original poster on this thread, I never
> expressed a belief (nor do I hold the belief) that the bird in Estes Park
> *is* an escaped cage bird. I consider it far more likely that the bird in
> Estes Park, and all the other Yellow Grosbeaks seen in Colorado, are/were
> in fact wild birds. I wouldn't have been excited to observe the Estes Park
> bird, otherwise, and I certainly wouldn't have chased it.
>
> I really only intended to express a possibility that had not been raised
> previously and was hoping to learn from the knowledgeable folks on COBIRDS
> how one might determine if an out-of-range species that is occasionally
> captured and traded (illegally) as a cage bird is in fact a wild bird.
>
> For Scott R's benefit, I want to clarify that I never asked this question
> about Yellow Grosbeaks seen elsewhere in Colorado because I didn't bother
> to chase any of those other ones. It's that simple. Seeing the bird in
> Estes Park provoked my curiosity. If I had seen any of the others I would
> have had the same curiosity and posed the same question. Maybe, in
> addition, I was influenced by a birder's report last week of a Rose-ringed
> Parakeet in Fort Collins, which had me thinking about escaped cage birds.
>
> John Shenot
> Fort Collins
>
> On Tuesday, July 1, 2025 at 8:29:20 AM UTC-6 Ira Sanders wrote:
>
>> Scott, I agree.
>> This brings to mind birds like Tropical Parula, Streak-backed Oriole in
>> the middle of winter, Hooded Orioles, Black-chinned Sparrow, Red-flanked
>> Bluetail (Wyoming) and Lawrence's Goldfinch which are the ones I can think
>> of off the top of my head. Some of these I didn't hear about because they
>> weren't reported on Cobirds (old gripe), but that's besides the point. Of
>> this short list, the Streak-backed is the most obvious to me. You have a
>> good point.
>> Ira Sanders
>>
>> On Tue, Jul 1, 2025 at 7:58 AM Scott Rashid <pygmy......> wrote:
>>
>>> It’s interesting that only when the bird appears in estes that it
>>> becomes thought of as an escaped bird.
>>>
>>> How come it wasn’t thought of as an escapee when it was found farther
>>> south in Colorado?
>>>
>>> Scott Rashid
>>> Estes park
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 30, 2025 at 4:49 PM Susan Rosine <u5b2......> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I wonder where they are (were) kept as caged birds? Native song birds
>>>> are illegal to keep as pets, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act covers the
>>>> Yellow Grosbeak.
>>>> I would assume (and hope) the Colorado sightings are not previously
>>>> caged birds.
>>>>
>>>> Susan Rosine
>>>> Brighton
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Jun 30, 2025, 11:55 AM Steingraeber,David <
>>>> <David.Ste......> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Apparently, Yellow Grosbeaks are known to be kept as cage birds. In *Rare
>>>>> Birds of North America *by Howell, Lewington & Russell, the authors
>>>>> state, "Because yellow grosbeaks are kept in captivity (Hamilton 2001),
>>>>> extralimital records in both time and space are open to question." They
>>>>> then give several examples where various state records committees have not
>>>>> accepted extralimital occurrences, as well as cases where such occurrences
>>>>> have been accepted. They end their discussion of the topic with this:
>>>>> "Observers should not assume that extralimital records of this species are
>>>>> escaped cage birds, and all such occurrences should be carefully
>>>>> documented."
>>>>>
>>>>> David Steingraeber
>>>>> Fort Collins
>>>>>
>>>>> ------------------------------
>>>>> *From:* <cob......> <cob......> on behalf
>>>>> of Susan Rosine <u5b2......>
>>>>> *Sent:* Sunday, June 29, 2025 9:02 PM
>>>>> *To:* Colorado Birds <cob......>
>>>>> *Subject:* Re: [cobirds] Yellow Grosbeak (Larimer) - just wondering...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> *** Caution: EXTERNAL Sender ***
>>>>> To my knowledge, they are not at all suitable to be a pet/caged bird.
>>>>> Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
>>>>>
>>>>> Susan Rosine
>>>>> Brighton
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sun, Jun 29, 2025, 8:31 PM John Shenot <johns......> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I was pleased to have the chance to see the Yellow Grosbeak in Estes
>>>>> Park today. Even so, I find myself wondering if anyone on this group has
>>>>> considered (perhaps privately?) that it might be an escaped cage bird? How
>>>>> would one know? Given that this bird is a solid 1,000 miles out of range,
>>>>> without any obvious weather phenomenon to explain its presence, is it
>>>>> unreasonable for me to wonder?
>>>>>
>>>>> Not trying to rain on anyone's parade, sorry if it comes across that
>>>>> way. I'm just a curious guy...
>>>>>
>>>>> John Shenot
>>>>> Fort Collins
>>>>>
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>>>>>
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>> To view this discussion visit
>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAKxmMRP1w8SHOmW%<2BOQs2ofrbg_3bfZsroq4qtkAWqTaTRtCpew...> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAKxmMRP1w8SHOmW%<2BOQs2ofrbg_3bfZsroq4qtkAWqTaTRtCpew...>?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> .
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ira Sanders
>> Golden, CO
>> "My mind is a raging torrent flooded with rivulets of thought cascading
>> into a waterfall of creative alternatives."
>>
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