The cruises out of Galveston have interesting itineraries The ports included (not all on same cruises) are Progreso, Cancun, Cozumel, Belize City, Grand Cayman, Falmouth (Jamaica), and Roatan (Honduras). There are five-day cruises, for example, that travel across to Progreso (Costa Maya), Cozumel, and back. Seven-day cruises often go to more or farther ports. I have looked at the TBRC review list, and I found five species that are possibly of Caribbean origin. The first is white-cheeked pintail. If course, the pintail is present in South America as well, and is well represented in the aviary trade. Also, the pintail is at best a short distance migrant. The next is the American flamingo. I believe that one of the recent birds is banded, right? If I remember correctly, that bird originated in the Yucatan. Flamingos are also short distance migrants, at best, but I cannot imagine a flamingo stowing away on a ship. We have a number of gray kingbird records, and we may have birds that originated in the Caribbean. We dont know, since the kingbird is also in Central and South America. And, of course, out birds may be from Florida. In any case, this is a Caribbean-oriented bird. The shiny cowbird is also in the Caribbean, but it is present throughout South America as well. It has been documented moving north into other states as well. I doubt that this is a good candidate for ship assisted displacement. This leaves the Yucatan vireo and the presumptive white-crowned pigeon. Of course, the pigeon is also found in Caribbean Florida, but we know that it is Caribbean in origin. The same is true for the Yucatan vireo (and in its case I am referencing the Caribbean side of the Yucatan, as well as in Grand Cayman, Belize, and Honduras). The pigeon does migrate through and among the islands. Most of the Florida birds leave in the fall. The natural occurrence of the white-pigeon is certainly plausible. In fact, I would think that with a specimen or photograph that bird will be added to the regular list. The Yucatan vireo is another matter. There is no know movement in these birds. As far as is known, the Yucatan vireo is sedentary. And, yes, there are numerous cruise ships traveling through and docking in Yucatan vireo territory. The problem is that the cruise business didnt appear in any significant way in Galveston or Texas until 2000. The vireo appeared in 1984. Most of the tankers and freighters have historically traveled between Progreso and Houston/Galveston. Progreso is well away from the range of the vireo. With that said, I do think that the vireo is the most likely to have been ship-assisted. All of these Caribbean species, with the exception of the Yucatan vireo, can be more easily explained by natural occurrence or the aviary trade. There is no evidence that the vireo came via ship, but it is the most plausible to have been ship-assisted. Even with the exponential increase in traffic in and out of Texas ports, we have seen absolutely no evidence of ship-assisted birds appearing in our state. I must say that I am surprised. Houston is one of the busiest ports in the U.S. (number 5, I believe). We certainly have enough ships and boats coming in and out of our ports, and they are going to the right places. But we are seeing nothing. Weird. The striped sparrow, on the other hand, fits neatly into a pattern of birds found in Texas that originate in Mexico. Of course, they can wander to Texas without crossing water. And, in many cases, there is a cage trade that could have delivered them at least to the border. But that absence of Caribbean birds bugs me. Even the black-whiskered vireo, ubiquitous in many parts of the Caribbean, is rare here and can be explained by birds wandering east from our bordering states. Odd...
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 18:05:01 +0000
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