ACKNOWLEDGMENTS museum specimens for us, and John M•ffhn, Boston Saba, Sherman Suter, and Richard K. TUCKER, J.A. 1971. M•scellaneous notes Bowers for their efforts to obtain docu- Birding 3: 27. E("Smitty")WOULD likeSmithto andthank SharonR.T. mentaryphotographs. Goldwasserfor assistancein the field, 400 Frederick St, Gale Mortson, John C. Arvin, and Janet LITERATURE CITED Hanover, PA 17331 (Heathcote), Witzeman for information on the war- PETERSON, R.T. and E.L. CHALIF. 1973. and 950 Third Ave , bler'srange, Jori L. Dunnfor examining A field guideto Mexicanbirds. Houghton New York,NY 10022 (Kaufman)

A sight record of the Crescent-chested Warbler from lowland Sonora

Scott B. Terrill

the generalshape differed somewhat,in of regular dispersalor migration, al- HE(ParulaCRESCENT-CHESTED superciliosa)is a speciesWARBLERof that the bird appearedslightly smaller, thoughit doesnot revealthe proportion humidmountain forests, including pine- perhaps longer-billed, with a more of the populationthat disperses,nor the oak and broadleaf dominated associ- roundedbreast and a moreslimly tapered distanceinvolved. Finally, the subspe- ations of Mexico and Central America posterior.The entire head and nape ap- cies V. s. sodalis, which breeds in north- (AmericanOrnithologists' Union 1983). pearedgray, broken only by a highlycon- westernMexico, hasbeen regarded as a Althoughit is generallyconsidered a resi- trastingwhite superciliumthat widened partialmigrant by Miller et al. (1957) dentthroughout its range,a recentrecord posteriorly.The wings were dark, con- The Rio Yaqui flows out of the Sierra for Arizona (Heathcote and Kaufman, trastingwith a bright greenupper back. Madre Occidental at its northern tenm- this issue)and the sightrecord reported No wingbarswere evident. The throat, nus.It is notunreasonable to suggestthat here indicatethat this little-knownspe- upper breast, and upper sides were this individual warbler followed the n- ciesmay at leastoccasionally wander or bright,clear yellow with a small, ovoid, parianhabitat downstream. Winter con- disperseoutside its known range. reddishsmudge on the upperbreast. The ditionscan be quite intolerablefor an in- On December 24, 1977, I observeda rest of the underpartswere white. The sectivorous bird in the northern Sierra Crescent-chestedWarbler in ripman underside of the tail showed a fair amount Madre. Further, it is not unreasonableto habitatalong the Rio Yaqui at Highway of white. The uppersurface of the tail expect future occurrencesin lowland 15 in Sonora,Mexico. The bird was feed- was not seen well. areas,especially in this.type of situation, ing with a mixedflock in the middleand Theoccurrence of thisspecies in Sono- thatis, in riparianareas along rivers that uppercanopy of cottonwood(Populus) ra waspredicted by Sutton(1951), but to flow out of highmountains, especially at and willow (Salix). The flock included date, very few records exist for this thenorthern end of therange of theCres- Yellow-rumped Warblers (Dendroica Mexican state. Further, this speciesis cent-chested Warbler. coronata), Orange-crownedWarblers typicallyfound at muchhigher elevations (Vermivoracelata), Black-throatedGray than this near sea-level occurrence Warblers(Dendroica nigrescens), a Wil- (4,000 to 11,000 feet; Skutch 1979, Bin- LITERATURE CITED son'sWarbler (Wilsonia pusilia), Ruby- ford 1968); this sightrecord may repre- AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION crownedKinglets (Regulus calendula), a sent a new low-elevation occurrence as 1983. Check-list of North American birds Blue-grayGnatcatcher (Polioptila caeru- well. Sixth ed. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, lea), and a Solitary Vireo (Vireo solitar- Basedupon other observations during Kansas. lUS) the winter months, this occurrenceis not BINFORD, L. C. 1968.A preliminarysurvey of the avifauna of the Mexican state of When first glimpsed,the bird was in entirelyout of characterfor thisspecies in Oaxaca. Vol. 2. Ph.D. diss., Louisiana the upper canopy, and a ventral view northwesternMexico. Winteringindivid- StateUniv., BatonRouge, Louisiana. broughtto mind a NorthernParula (Par- uals are often found in numbers in flocks MILLER, A. H., H. FRIEDMAN, L. GRIS- ula americana)or a Tropical Parula (P. with other wood warblers, especially COM, and R. T. MOORE. 1957. Distri- ptttayumi). The former speciesoccurs with North Americanmigrants that win- butional check-list of the birds of Mexico sporadicallyin Sonora,while the latteris ter in Mexico. Relativelylarge numbers Part2. Pacific CoastAvifauna 33:1-436 SUTTON, G. M. 1951. Mexican birds: first relativelycommon in southernSonora. of Crescent-chested Warblers have been impressions.Univ. of Oklahoma Press, However, when this bird was seen more foundwithin a singleflock in the broad- Norman, Oklahoma. clearly, a bold white superciliumwas leaf forest of the Rancho Liebre Bar- evident.This characteristicis lackingin ranca,Sinoloa, during the non-breeding Departmentof BiologicalSciences, theother two membersof thisgenus. The season(Terrill pers.obs. ;G. Rosenberg, State Universityof bird's overallsize appearedclose to that K. Rosenbergpers. comm.). This phe- New Yorkat Albany, of nearbyOrange-crowned Warblers, but nomenonmay be interpretedas evidence Albany, NY 12222

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