32 Orchard Oriole: New to Northern by Alan Wormington and William Lamond

On 25 September 1986 the authors in some still-green elderberry located an immature Orchard (Sambucus pubens) bushes. We had Oriole (Icterus spurius) at Terrace no difficulty in identifying this Bay, , while exciting find as an Orchard Oriole, observing birds in the company of , since the species was previously Mark W. Jennings. The bird was very familiar to all three of us. found at the town's sewage pond, This sighting represents the first which is located just south of town record of Orchard Oriole in at the base of a steep embankment; , the species further to the south the Lake having not been listed for the Superior shoreline is less than 1 region by Wormington and James km away. This very shallow sewage (1984), or subsequently by the pond is surrounded by mostly Ontario Bird Records Committee deciduous forest, with extensive in their annual reports (1983 to patches of various weeds (mostly 1985 inclusive). Bidens sp.) in and around the water. Description The Orchard Oriole was first The following is a synopsis of the seen by Lamond, who saw it flying description we were able to obtain: twice over the pond. On the first in size the bird was small for an encounter it was suspected of oriole, being hardly larger than a being a tanager (Piranga sp.), but large sparrow (e.g., White-crowned after the second observation was Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys), considered more likely to be an but with a more slender build. In Orchard Oriole. Some time later flight the bird flew in a somewhat we relocated the bird and were jerky style with its long, well­ able to keep it under almost rounded tail held down. continuous observation for about At a distance or in f)ight the bird 20 minutes. With binoculars, at simply appeared emirely olive­ distances ranging from 10 to 20 m, green in colour, but was noticeably the bird was studied feeding on the lighter below. The head, back, ground in tall dead grass, in rump and tail were mostiy a patches ofdead fireweed uniform shade of olive-green, (Epilobium angustifolium), in except that the head was slightly mountain ash (Sorbus sp.), in white darker on the crown and forehead, birch (Betula papyri/era) and the back showed very slight grey

Alan Wormington, R.R. #1, Leamington, Ontario N8H 3V4 William Lamond, #310-175 Hunter Street W., Hamilton, Ontario L8P IR4

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"marbling", and the rump Michigan, central Wisconsin and (contrasting with the tail and back) southern Minnesota, and westward was slightly lighter. No markings to include extreme southern (e.g., tail-spotting) were present in Manitoba and southeast the tail. The wings were slightly Saskatchewan (AO.U. 1983:734). darker and greyer than the back, Records north and east of the with two distinct but dull, dirty above range in the vicinity of the white wingbars; the smaller fore Great Lakes pertain almost wingbar (median wing coverts) was exclusively to birds in spring or thicker and probably slightly early summer, unlike the fall yellowish. The entire underparts of occurrence at Terrace Bay. The the bird were lighter than the most extralimital of these include upperparts. The lower portions the following: five spring and early were light greenish-yellow, while summer records north to the the throat was a distinct, clear area (Bruce M. Di Labio, lemon yellow with some duskiness pers. comm., 1986); nine spring at the edges. The eye was black or records for Manitoulin District dark; there was an indistinct dark (Nicholson 1981:177-178); several eyeline extending from the bill spring appearances at Whitefish base to a point just behind the eye. Point, Michigan (Payne 1983:58); The bill was moderately thick­ and an adult male observed by based but tapered to a sharp point; Marjorie Carr et al. on 21 May it was either straight or perhaps 1979 at Stony Point, Lake Superior, very slightly down-curved. In the only northern Minnesota colour it was mostly dark-dusky record away from the Red River with some pale colouring at the . Valley along the west edge of the base. state (Kim R. Eckert, pers. comm., The only vocalization made by 1986). More distant occurrences in the bird (heard once by Lamond) the east include numerous records was a double-noted, blackbird-like for Nova Scotia and a single chatter, recognized as typical of the record for Newfoundland (Godfrey species. 1986:557). We considered the bird to be an Also unusual about the Terrace immature (young-of-the-year), Bay bird is that it occurred on a mainly due to the bright very late date for the species. Only underparts, and in particular the one later record is known for bright yellow throat. Oberholser Ontario, that being an adult male (1974:814) describes this feature as observed 18-20 November 1962 at a distinction between immatures Oakville, Halton Regional and the similar adult female at this Municipality, by Barry D. Jones time of year. (pers. comm., 1986) and others. This remarkable record was Status and Range of the Species apparently unknown to James et al. In eastern North America the (1976:48), who list the latest Orchard Oriole regularly breeds Ontario date as 21 September, a north to Massachusetts, extreme record which presumably refers to , southern the Orchard Oriole seen on that

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date in 1952 at Point Pelee, Essex Nicholson, J.C 1981. The Birds of County, by Robert E. Mara and Adjacent (O'Reillyet al. 1953:48). Islands within Manitoulin In summary, the present record District Second Edition, Revised. represents an unusually late fall Sudbury, Ontario. 204 pp. record of the species well north of Oberholser, HC 1974. The Bird Life its breeding range, presumably the ofTexas. University ofTexas result of disoriented reverse Press, Austin & London. Two migration. Despite this uniqueness, Volumes. 1069 pp. however, the record fits a O'Reilly, RA., Jr., D.S. Middleton. developing pattern in northern N.T. Kelley, w.P. Nickell and CJ. Ontario-and Lake Superior in Messner (Editors). 1953. Bird particular-where southern species Survey of the Detroit Region have most often been recorded 1952. The Detroit Audubon during fall migration, and often on Society, Detroit, Michigan. 83 pp. dates considerably later than their Payne. R.B. 1983. A Distributional normal migration periods. Checklist of the Birds of Michigan. Miscellaneous Publi- literature Cited cations, Museum of Zoology, American Ornithologists' Union. 1983. Check-list ofNorth University ofMichigan No. 164. Ann Arbor, Michigan. 71 pp. American Birds, 6th Edition. Allen Press Inc., Lawrence, Wormington, A. and R.D. James. Kansas. 877 pp. 1984. Ontario Bird Records Committee, Checklist of the Godfrey, W.E. 1986. The Birds of . Revised Edition. Birds ofOntario. Ontario Birds 2:13-23. National Museum ofNatural Sciences, Ottawa. 595 pp. James, R.D., P.L. McLaren andJ.C Barlow. 1976. Annotated Check- list of the Birds ofOntario. Royal Ontario Museum Life Sciences Miscellaneous Publi- cations, . 75 pp.

Editor's Note: Up until now, the Annual Report of the Ontario Bird Records Committee has always appeared in the first number ofeach volume ofOntario Birds (April issue). However, due to the fact that the OBRC holds its annual meeting in March, it is impossible to include the committee's report without delaying the publication ofthe journal. Commencing this year, therefore, the OBRC Annual Report will regularly appear in the second (August) issue of Ontario Birds. This will not only allow us to better maintain our production schedule, but will also provide ample time for the OBRC to review records and compile them into a first-class report. D.M. Fraser

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