THE CHANGING SEASONS The BigPicture
Brian L. Sullivan in EastCoast records a recentby-product of ing distribution,and even the difficult ques- their expandingbreeding distribution in tionsof birds'conservation in a landscape PRBO-ConservationScience NorthAmerica? What otherspecies might that seems ever more stressed. we expectto find associatedwith thesesys- On some level, it is difficult to conceive 4990Shoreline Highway tems(such as Ash-throated Flycatcher), and that birds'distribution and migratorypat- what accounts for the differences in their terns are substantiallydifferent than they StinsonBeach, California 94970 numbers and distribution in the East? Have were200 yearsago, or even2000 years ago. therebeen changes in recentyears in mete- Buta carefulreading of evenjust one'sown (email:[email protected]) orological conditions that might affect regionalreports--spanning back just a half migratorymovements of thesespecies? The century--isenough to broadenour imagina- pagesof thisjournal brim with questionsof tion of how thingsmust have been. Sixty thisnature; it is refreshingthat we havethe yearsago, much of LongIsland was farm- pastautumn, I wasstruck by howmuch freedomhere to ask questionsfor which land and indeed much of the East Coast, 'n.wereading as a communitytheregionalof birders reportscontinue fromthisto there may be no easyanswers or evenscien- especiallyin theSouth, was free from "devel- learn about avian distribution and abun- tificallytestable hypotheses. opment."One hundredyears ago, Cahfor- dance,and strucktoo by the value and Whateverour relationshipto the many nia waslargely wilderness; and Ivory-billed potentialuses of thesereports. I find it ornithologicalpuzzles that appearin this Woodpeckerswere still to beseen in suitable remarkable that after more than two cen- journal,there is littledoubt that we arerap- habitatin severalstates. Two hundred years turiesof North Americanbird study,the idly becomingmore astutebirders in this ago,contiguous forests stretched from the efforts of North American Birds contributors hemisphereand that we asa groupare also AtlanticCoast almost to the Mississippi continue to illuminate little-known corners increasinglysanguine about the importance River; the West was not yet "won,"and of the continent and its offshore waters. of the documentation of our time in the nativeprairies burned annually The paths With eachseasods migration, we re-evaluate field. As to "rarities,"birders in the Ameri- of migratorybirds and movements of mam- the suppositionsput forthby themany pre- cashave minds now moreopen than ever: mal herdswere not alteredthen by vast vious authors of this column. What new possibilitiesforraerly thought extremely expansesof suburhia,telecommunications questionswill arise,and what questions remoteare now known to beregular. In the towers,skyscrapers, highways, or lightpol- seem to have been answered? Which regionalreports, records of Siberianspecies lution. Surelythese anthropogenic influ- specieswill continueto declineor expand, stretchfrom Hawaii to Alaska,from Califor- enceshave greatly altered bird movements to irruptor withdraw?And what might the nia to the Midwest and the East--almost all anddistribution and are in partresponsible underlyingcauses of thesedynamics be? As of themfound by birderswho anticipated for thenew patterns we readabout here. our abilitiesto predictappearances of out- theirappearances. Tropical pelagic species Butas the natural history of NorthAmeri- of-rangespecies based on weatherforecasts were moved to the Great Lakes after a hurri- canbirds has changed, so too, radically, have improve,is our understandingof the con- cane-and birders knew where and how to thenatural historians. The growing numbers nection between birds' movements and look for them. California birders found two of birdersin North America,the advancesin weather systemsalso improving? Will new shearwaterspecies this season,one bird identificationthat continueto be pio- Novemberlow-pressure systems tracking from the North Atlantic, one from the South neered,and the truly new age of information- toward the Northeast again produce PacificOcean--and were fully preparedto sharingclearly influence the permanent record extrafimital Cave Swallows--or were the identify and documentboth. Outlandish of American bird distribution. One hundred flightsof thepast decade tied to factorsthat hummingbirdsout of range?Only the Arc- yearsago, who could haveforeseen, for haveless to dowith weather patterns per se tic regionsseem out of boundsfor these instance,the coordinatedteams of GYeatLakes than with populationdynamics? And will birds,whose appearances are catalogued and birders,linked by cell phonesand pagers, thosesame systemscontinue to disperse admirablydocumented by an armyof back- scouringtheir areasfor hurricane-driven waywardwestern migrants and vagrants to yard feeder-enthusiasts,almost a birding petrelsand storm-petrels? A hundred years the eastern United States and Canadian Mar- subculturein itself. In thesepages one can ago,hurricanes were horrible, unpredictable itimes(and even on towardEurope)? detect scoresof patternsamid the over shocksto coastalcommunities; our satellites Evenas we confirm,annually, that certain 100,000words of seasonalsummary. I con- now witness their movementsfrom birth, meteorologicalevents do havean influence lessthat I oncegleaned these pages for oftenthousands of milesfrom our shores,to on bird movements,still more questions imagesof rareand unusual birds, and 1 still extra-tropicalextinction. Where naturalists of thananswers suggest themselves: Are Cave enjoythis aspect of thejournal; but increas- thenineteenth century perceived little in the Swallowschanging their usualmigratory inglyI perceiveit to be a valuableresource wayof ornithologicalpatterns in suchdistur- patterns,or havewe simplybecome more fordocumenting the often dramatic plight of bances,twenty-first century birders execute awareof thisspecies, when to expectit, and our avifauna--thedynamic movements of sophisticatedsearches for seabirds in theinte- how to identifyit? Hasthe flightof Cave species,whether in migrationor moresubtle rior,drawing on both history and technology Swallowsbeen overlooked, or is the increase passages,the ever-changing canvas of breed- We livein thetime of theBig Picture.
14 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS Figure1.Up to four American Pipits ofthe Asian racejaponicus werefoundin the Southern Pacific Coast Region infall 2003. This bird photographed 12October near Imperial Beach, SanDiego County showsthe distinctive features ofthe subspecies, including heavier back streaking, grayer back, bold blackish streaking inthe malar area and underparts, andpinkish legs, all distinctions fromNorth Americantaxa. œhotographsbyLarr•$ansone.
That the Americanlandscape will con- ence, whatever our errors or occasional in the East; the influences of Hurricane tinue to be altered is incontestable: human misidentificationsalong the way. Theinfor- Isabel; and the continuing increase in populationswill grow,habitats will be lost. mationcontained in thesereports does not recordsof extralimitalhummingbirds. resourceswill be consumed,and species will lackvalue, whether or notit influencespub- become endangeredand extinct. The lic policy,land-management decisions, or WeatherSynopsis planet'schanging climate, whose Big Picture conservationbiology (as it does,frequently). As an enthusiastof both birds and weather,I we are slowlycoming to understand.will Mostimportant to realize,when we take that readeach regional editor• weather descrip- ensurethat other, perhaps radical changes in extra time to sendthe regionaleditors our tionsand bird-related hypotheses with great habuatsthat are forecastwill cometo pass: findings,is thatwe cannotknow today how interest. Not only doesthis information Alpinemeadows become forested, ice sheets the contributions made here--the hard brightenthe regional reports with localfla- melt, sealevels rise, the Evergladesvanish. work of many observersthat collectively vor, it allows all of North America'sbirders To step back from the specificsof the producesa snapshotof North American to glimpsethe conditionsencountered in regionalreports herein, and to imaginethe birdlifeeach season--will prove useful or eachregion and imagine what it mighthave future birdlife o[ the Americas as different importantin the future. The astonishing beenlike to bird there. The compilationof fromtoday as today'sis fromthat of 1604: informationin thesepages is invariablysub- this information over time will lead to a bet- the BigPicture can seem bleak. Afterall, tler thanthe waywardSiberian Accentor in ter understandingof how bird migration, whocould have imagined two centuriesago Montana or Yellow Wagtail in Alabama extralimitaloccurrences, and weatherphe- that the PassengerPigeon would become (thoughthese are marvelous discoveries). It nomena are linked. extinct,when cloudso[ this speciesonce is insteadthe Big Picturethat canbe inti- Byand large, the Northeast south through movedlike greatstorms across the skies? mated•n the manyand interconnectedpat- the Carolinasexperienced an activeweather We havefew quantified data on thesebirds, terns of bird movement acrossthe continent, patternthis fall, moreso after September. justthe anecdotal astonishment of observers weather-related or otherwise. For the hurricanesaside, that is. Augustand Sep- who [ound them innumerable. Take heart, autumn of 2003, patternsthat suggested temberwere quite wet overmost of theEast then, in the contributionsmade within these themselvesto me involved:migratory birds' (especially in the Middle Atlantic, pages. Thousandsof birdersacross the movements in relation to the Polar Jet Appalachia,and SouthernAtlantic but also reportingregions have counted the birds they Stream;the "invasions" of pipitsand fulmars south to Florida and north to southern observed, have recordedthe details o[ along the Pacific Coast;the riddle of Quebec),with heavyprecipitation coming to plumage,habitat, voice, and movement. We "reverse-migration"in the northeastern easternNew England in October.A persist- aremoving away from anecdote and toward quadranto[ NorthAmerica and its possible ent weatherpattern of strongcold fronts serious citizen-derived, citizen-driven sci- connectionsto thevagrancy of westernbirds moving through from late September
VOLUME 58 (2004) ß NUMBER 1 15 throughthe end of Novembersurely con- poundedfirst southernBritish Columbia, an influenceon migratingbirds directly, the tributedto theplethora of westernspecies in then Washington,Oregon, and northern conditions and direction of air in these theEast this fall, especially on theAtlantic California.The westerly gales in thePacific streamspowerfully influence and help to coast. Away from the outer coasts,fall Northwest were associated with a "wreck" of steersynoptic-scale systems, including those migrationwas considered"average" or NorthernFulmars that eventuallyextended low-pressuresystems (called "mid-latitude poorer: concentrationsof migrants or all theway into Mexico. To tracethe gene- cyclones"by meteorologists)that we watch unusual species were not extensively sis of theseareas of warmth and cold, calm foron familiarweather maps. Not onlydoes observed,as is often the case. Farm fields and storm, one has only to observethe theJet influence the directionof stormsys- werefilled with waterduring the peakof movementsof the PolarJet Stream:where it tems:the temperature contrast across the Jet shorebird migration, producing some movednorth, dry highpressure with associ- providesmuch of the systems'energy. This remarkablecounts of low-densityspecies atedwarm air settledin "below"it; alongits is oneof thechief reasons that such systems and raritiesacross the coastalplains, but path spun low-pressuressystems, some of staynear (or are"advected by") theJet. interiorreservoirs were often too full to pro- whichdisplaced birds from typicalmigra- The air thatcomprises the Polar Jet typi- videgood shorebird habitat, as in Pennsyl- tionalroutes; and whereit plungedsouth- callytravels at about240 k.p.h. (150 m.p.h.; vania. In general,the seasonwas a few ward,cold, dry air movedin "above"it, the thoughthis is variable);airspeeds at thesur- degreeswarmer than normal--soreported first overtures of winter. faceand thosein the lower atmosphere, from northernQuebec through Georgia-- wherenocturnal birds migrate, are typically and this mildness was often connected in the The Jet Stream much lower, but the systemswith which regionalreports to thesurvival of lingering Most birders look to weather events on the thesebirds must contend are mostly guided, migrants. The prairiestates and provinces, localand regional level when planning their in someway, by flowof theJet. The weather the Midwest, and the Western Great Lakes time in the field: storm squallsat inland systemsassociated with thesearcs typically regionhad generally mild, dry weatherthis reservoirs,coastal cold fronts, tropical moveeastward at 30-50 k.p.h. (or about fall, andmost regional editors remarked on cyclones,rainy dayswith drenchedfarm 20-30m.p.h.). Much like a streamof liquid, thelack of strikingweather events and lack fields and sod farms--all are the stuff of fall theJetg path is influencedby otheraspects of concentratedmigrants (though jaegers birdingat manypoints on thecontinent. Yet of its surroundingsand thusflows in vari- were in very high numberson the Great manyof us,despite good resources on the able,buckling patterns that resemble sinu- Lakes). Iowawas especially dry, but neigh- 1ritemet and even television,never think to soidalwaves. These "loops" in theJetS flow boringMissouri had above-normalrainfall, lookat weatherfrom a widermeteorological form ridges(shaped like largehills on and both were colder than usual. To the vantage.The Jet Stream is generallyunder- weathermaps) and troughs (shaped like val- south,in Tennesseeand Kentucky,warmer- stoodas a steeringmechanism for "synoptic- leys),both of whichhave major effects of the than-averagetemperatures and a pro- scale"(large-scale) weather systems (such as steering,strengthening, and weakeningof nouncedpasserine migration were reported, one seesrepresented on weathermaps) in storms.Troughs tend to intensifyand accel- both potentiallyassociated with record-late North America,but it rarely receivesmen- eratemid-latitude cyclones: a strong, persist- datesfor severalspecies. The Gulf Coast, tionin thisjournal's regional reports, at least enttrough might steer storm after storm into too,saw strong migration after a wetAugust; awayfrom Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, a certainregion, as we often see in the the restof the seasonwas meteorologically whereits effectsin guidingin thosepound- PacificNorthwest, affecting its avifaunain mediocrebut filled with interestingbird ing, moisture-ladenPacific storms are duly theprocess. (The interactions between mid- reports,though Texas reported an "unevent- noted. Even more rarely doesone read latitudecydones and thePolar Jet are com- ful" season. about theJet Stream'seffect on birds'move- plex enoughthat further summaryrisks The interiorWest was also quite warm: ments,perhaps because it seemsan indirect oversimplification.)As this journal'sfea- Glasgow,Montana had 39 straightdays with influence,perhaps because we associate tureshave demonstrated on many occasions, highsexceeding 85 ø F,with warmthcontin- birds' movementswith more proximate strongmid-latitude cyclones have often been uing throughthe third week of October. meteorologicalphenomena. We may find, implicatedin thedispersal of avianmigrants Idaho, too, had its warmestAugust on however,that studying the conditionof the to regionsfar outsidetheir areas of normal record. Reservoirsin manyplaces ran dry, Jet Streamand understandingits complex occurrence(synopsis in Lehman2003). offeringshorebirds habitat but negatively influenceon surfaceweather patterns will Muchof thefocus in past"Changing Sea- affectingmigrant waterfowl later in theyear. prove•mportant in understandingthe cross- sous"essays has been on thePolar Jets effect Late October and November, however, continental and transoceanic movements of on both short- and long-distancebird changed the season dramatically,with birds. Whatfollows is a simpledescription vagrancyin the Midwestand East.where repeatedcold fronts and low temperatures of the mechanicsof theJet Stream, for those astoundmenthas turnedto anticipationin the rule. To the south, New Mexico and Ari- unfamiliarwith it (seealso Lehman 2003). the caseof Siberianspecies such as Sharp- zona continuedvery dry and unusually The Jet Stream(hereafter "Jet") is com- tailedSandpiper, Long-billed Murrelet, and warm,but thedrought was eased in Nevada prisedof tworelatively narrow circulations Black-tailedGull (all noted this season),as and Utah, where late-seasonsnowfalls that of air (the Polarand SubtropicalJets) that wellas a fewother nonpasserines, and where continuedinto winter promised better reser- flowat highspeeds, more or lessfrom west westernNorth American species are awaited voirlevels in spring. to cast,around the earth at middle and sub- following even moderatelow-pressure "Warmand dry" were also the adjectives tropicallatitudes, respectively. These bands events. It shouldbe pointedout thatsome appliedto most of theU. S.Pacific coast this aremostly in theUpper Troposphere, at vari- exceptionalbirds such as theseLong-billed fall,where wildfires were especially severe in ablealutudes of roughly5-15 km, with 10 Murreletsmay indeed be flyingat altitudes the southern quarter of the British km (about32,000 feet) an averagealtitude. of fivekm or greaterand thus flying along Columbian interior and in southern Califor- The PolarJet is normallylocated at the with the PolarJet itself (how elsedoes a nia. Awayfrom the fires, skies were reported boundarybetween cooler "polar"-modified SiberianFlycatcher reach Bermuda, as one as"clear"and migrants and vagrants in low air to the north (the PolarHigh) and the did on 28 September1980)? It seemsrea- numbers. As in Idaho and Montana, the warmer,moister, "subtropical"-modified air sonableto assume,more modestly, that the warm,dry earlyseason ended abruptly in to the south(the SubtropicalHigh). While strengthand positionof the PolarJet in the mid- to late October,when Pacific storms this elevationmight seem too high to have North Pacific could have considerable effect
16 NORTH AMERICAN BIRD on the numberand composition of migrant North America,but it would makefor fasci- Augustto 21 September)and 26 Siberian landbirds found on North Pacific islandsand natingstudy.) The late-AugustPolar Jet-- Pipits(27 Augustto 28 September),with alongthe PacificCoast. If conditionsare arcingnorth from mainlandChina just single-dayrecord totals of 26 Red-throated favorablefor manylow-pressure systems to below the Kamchatka Peninsula and into the Pipitson 22 Augustand 40 on 28 August, form,these systems will likelybe responsi- Aleutians--allowed several cyclones to and the single-dayrecord total of Siberian blefor influencing the movements of migra- move acrossthe Bering Sea, potentially Pipits being 13, seen daily between30 tory birds;if theJet archesnorthward or influencingthe movements of bothcoastal Augustand 3 September.(The pipit specta- southward,so too do the surfaceweather Asian migrants and Trans-Beringian cle therealso featured three Pechom Pipits systems,and the birdswhose migratory migrants(Figure 2). Ihe counterclockwisein September.)Farther south on St. Paul pathwayslie in theirpaths will have to con- rotationof thesesystems and the associated Island,Lovitch reported Red-throated Pipit tend with them. The PolarJet's movement is southwesterlyto northeasterlywinds highcounts of 40 on 28 Augustand 49 on roughlytoward the east and thus more or (dependingon one'sposition in relationto 29 August,with considerable numbers daily less with the flow of the dominant Mid-lati- the centerof the low) possiblyhelped steer through12 September,and additional scat- tude Westerlies,which are producedulti- unusuallyhigh numbersof Red-throated teredindividuals appearing through month's matelyby therotation of theEarth. This Pipitsand American Pipits of theracejapan- end. SiberianPipits were also in evidenceon does not mean that low-pressuresystems icusto the Alaskanislands, certainly more St. Paul,where up to 3 per day were seen guidedby the Jet simplyhave westerly thanseen in an averageseason here. By 10 regularlyfrom 1 through27 September winds, however;in the northern hemi- September,the PolarJet had become more (maxima of 6-8). (At the same time, sphere,low-pressure systems have winds powerful,steering surface systems toward greater-than-expectednumbers of Yellow botheasterly/northeasterly (on the north the northeast from China acrossthe Pacific Wagtailsappeared on St. Paul.) With at least sideof thesystem) and westerly/southwest- Ocean south of the Aleutians,resulting in 88 Red-throatedPipits encountered on these erly (on the southside). The windsthat many daysof easterlyand northeasterly two islandson 28 August,it appearsthat posea challengefor long-distanceSiberian windson the Pribilofsand thusthe appear- hundredsof Red-throatedPipits must have migrants and for westbound"Trans- ancethere of numerousvagrants of North beenmoving through these islands during Beringian"migrants--birds that nest in Americanorigin here. (Afterthe two Fork- late Augustand early September.Red- Alaskabut migrateacross the BeringSea to tailedSwifts there in August,birds of Siber- throatedPipits 'were in evidencefarther winter in Asia--are the westerlies,which are ianorigin reappeared only in lateSeptember south as well: one was on Adak in the Aleu- unfavorablefor theirmigrations toward the and early October,when winds again tianson 22 August(Ted Floydand Chris southwest.(Most truly Asian birds found on becamewesterly there.) By 17 September, Wood), and threewere in coastalSoutheast Alaskan islands have been associated with thisvery strong Jet had dipped still farther Alaska:one in Ketchikan7 Septemberand 2 windsblowing from Asia, not surprisingly; southward,with the strongestwinds now in Juneau7-20 September.Via theInternet, but we should bear in mind that a bird plowinginto the North Americancoast at Lehmanrecommended that observersalong caughtin a cyclonemight well experience the latitudesof Oregonand northern Cali- the Pacific Coast be on the lookout for what appearto be favorablewinds ini- fornia,and by month'send, the Jet shifted unusualnumbers of thesespecies. tially--a tailwindin the appropriatedirec- still moreto the south.Beginning in early Thesepredictions bore fruit, as a veritable tion for migratory needs---but then be October,the coastsof Californiaand Baja ddugeof Red-throatedPipits hit thePadfic moved contrary to this direction as the were awashwith reportsof Red-throated Coastin early October,stretching from cyclonicwinds bring the bird around to the Pipits. Southeast Alaska and British Columbia system'sother side.) Astroughs develop in throughBaja California Sur. A combined the Polar Jet, advectinglow-pressure sys- TheGreat Pipit Invasion totalof at least103 Red-throatedPipits was tems eastward in the eastern North Pacific Thebig story along the Pacific Coast was the reportedin theseregions from 23 September acrosslower latitudes,migrant landbirds large-scaleinvasion of Red-throatedPipits, through25 November.High counts for the south of Alaska too will be affected,moved in somecases accompanied byreports of the periodfrom single locations included: 17 on in directionscontrary to typicalroutes. As a eastern Russianrace of American Pipit SanClemente Island, California; 8-10 north trough developsand intensifies,fall (Antbusrubescens japanicus; Figure 1), here- of El Socorro,Baja California; a remarkable migrantsfrom Alaska may follow the south- after for conveniences sake referred to as 8-10 at SantaTeresita, Baja California Sur; ward winds associatedwith the trough SiberianPipit, followingLee and Birch and 5+ at Cantamar,Baja California.The towardthe HawaiianIslands, especially if (2002), rather than as "JapanesePipit," its invasionof 2003 was comparableonly to thistrough's progression is slow. The grow- oldername. The breadthand scope of the that documentedin 1991, when 79 individ- inglist of Asianavian visitors to theNorth- 2003 invasion had not been seen since the uals were reportedin twelveCalifornia western Hawaiian Islands would seem to remarkableinvasion of thesetaxa during fall counties,prompting the CaliforniaBird support the idea that migratoryAsian of 1991 (McCaskie 1992, Yee et al. 1992). Records Committee to remove it from the speciesare being affected by systems steered Earlysigns of this movement were already in state'sReview List (C.B.R.C., in ms.). This towardthe southby theJet or by theJet evidenceby lateAugust at twoAlaskan out- specieswas first documented in California itself (Pratt et al. 1987), but see also this posts:at Gambell,on St. LawrenceIsland, 40 yearsago, when 12 werefound by Guy season'sS. A. box in the Hawaiian islands Paul Lehmanand othersreported record- McCaskiein the TijuanaRiver Valley 12-27 reportfor an accountof threemajor North high numbersof both Red-throatedand October 1964 (Garrett and Dunn 1981); it Americanvagrants there in November. SiberianPipits; and farthersouth in the hasproven to be nearlyannual in the state Lookingat the patternof the PolarJet BeringSea at St. PaulIsland, Derek Lovitch since,although numbers fluctuate consider- duringautumn 2003, one can see how some andthe St. PaulFall Surveyreported excel- ablyfrom year to year. In recentyears, Red- Siberianmigrants might have been directed lentnumbers of both. Byearly September, it throatedPipits have been relatively scarce: into NorthAmerica by its movements.(We was clearthat a sizabledispersal of these fall 2000produced only three in California cannotoffer here an inter-annualcompari- birds,along a broadfront, was underway. and one in BajaCalifornia; fall 2001 pro- sonof the PolarJet's movements and theso- At Gambell,Lehman noted record totals ducednine; and only three were in Califor- called avian "SiberianExpress" years in of no fewerthan 94 Red-throatedPipits (21 nia andone in Bajain fall 2002. An average
VOLUME 58 (2004) NUMBER 1 17 yearfor thisspecies in Californiaproduces remotenessof their preferred breeding habi- Vectorsof vagrancyß about four individuals,which underscores tat (dry hillsidetundra) in westernAlaska Thequestion of thegeographic origin of the how extensive the invasion of 2003 was. contributeto the uncertaintyabout North Red-throatedPipits and SiberianPipits Thestrong showing of SiberianPipits on Americanpopulations, and it doesnot seem involved in these invasions is a matter of the Alaskan islands also translated to the outsidethe realmof possibilitythat hun- substantialdebate, particularly in Californta. southernPacific Coast, including the first dredsbreed in thisarea. The fall migration The questionis in factgermane to all Siber- threerecords for Baja Californiaand no of Alaska'sRe&throated Pipits is thoughtto ianvagrants that have turned up in Califor- fewerthan eight birds in California(four in proceedacross the BeringSea into Siberia nia and BajaCalifornia, as thereare rela- eachregion). While our incompleteunder- and then south down the Asian coast to win- tivelyfew records of Siberianspecies north standingof thedistribution and variation in tering groundsin coastalSoutheast Asia of California and south of Alaska. Two the- AmericanPipit subspeciescertainly makes (AlstrOmand Mild 2003). Thiswould sug- orieshave been put forth to explainthe some extralimital records difficult to inter- gest that, in typicalyears, relatively few migratoryroutes taken by thesepipits on pret (Leeand Birch 2002), Siberian Pipit is would reach North America south of the theirway to coastalCalifornia and Mexico, dearly being detectedregularly in North BeringSea region. andthe long-distance vagrancy of thesetaxa America,particularly in the Bering Sea SiberianPipit, however, is not knownto maybe explainedby one,both, or of course region,where it hasbeen carefully video- breedin Alaska,and its nearestbreeding neither. documentedon many occasions.Previous groundsmay lie no closerthan the central The first, which we will term here the recordsof thissubspecies in California have KamchatkaPeninsula, according to at least "coastalmigration theory," suggests that showncorrelation with the appearanceof someauthorities; AlstrOm and Mild (2003), these birds cross into North America from numbersRe&throated Pipits (McCaskie however,assign all easternRussian breed- Siberiaand then move southward along the 1990,McCaskie 1992, Yee et al. 1992),espe- ers to japonicus,including those on the coast,largely escaping detection until they dally the 1991invasion; thus it is no sur- Chukotskiy(Chukotsk) Peninsula in east- reach northern California. The second the- prise that SiberianPipit has once again ernmostSiberia, just north of St. Lawrence ory--let'scall it the "trans-Pacifictheory"-- shownup in numbersin whatturned out to Island. (The breedingAmerica Pipits here, suggeststhat these birds undertake long-dis- be a stellaryear for Re&throatedPipits. it should be mentioned, have also been tance water crossingsfrom Siberianand Whilesome records are certainly a resultof calledsubspecies h•irmsi [Portenko 1989]; Alaskanbreeding grounds southwestward the increase in birders' awareness of this the affinities of Chukotskiy Peninsula acrossthe Bering Sea. When displaced, such subspecies,it seemshighly likely that the breeders are thus somewhat unclear but birds settle on landmasses to the northwest weather factors that influence the move- probablylie with japonicus.)Like Red- of the Pacific Coast, and then continue mentsof some Re&throatedPipits also throated,Siberian Pipit migratessouth to southeastward,flying directly over the influence the movements of some Siberian winterin Japanand China. PacificOcean until theymake landfall, pri- Pipits. While some might argue that Red- marilyin California. While both theories With two veritable"invasion years" of throatedPipits in southernNorth America seemplausible, each has its confounding thesespecies now on record,birders are nat- mustcome from the small Alaskan popula- factors.One potential Achilles' heel of the urallyindined to theorizeabout such move- tion, in numbersthat vary with breeding coastalmigration theory is that relatively ments.So many factors come into play here, successand other factors,it seems more few U.S. (or Canadian) recordsexist for and so many questionsinsist themselves, likely to me that the synchronousirrup- Re&throated north of California: a few for that we focus first on the most obvious: tionsof Siberianand Red-throatedPipits, the Yukon,18 from BritishColumbia, and What was or were the route(s) taken to particularlyin 1991 and 2003, indicatea through2003 one eachfrom Washington Alaska and California (and elsewhere)? common mechanismof displacement and Oregon.One reasonI suspectthe How muchof the flightwas coastal, how betweentaxa that sharemigratory path- agencyof thePolar Jet in the 2003invasion muchover open water? Why arethese pip- ways,at leaston part of their fall migra- of pipitsis thissurprising geographic gap in its overwhelminglycoastal in theirdistribu- tions. (This basicassumption could be the recordsof thesepipits but alsoof other tion in the autumn? And finally,why is wrong,of course.)Whatever the ultimate Siberianpasserine vagrants: they appear there a lack of winter records from the south sourcesof North Americanmigrants and annuallyin Alaskaand to a lesserdegree in at latitudescomparable to thoseof theirnor- vagrants,Red-throated Pipits have consis- offshoreand coastal California, Baja Califor- malwinter grounds--and why so few spring tently outnumberedSiberian Pipits during nia, and even Hawaii (albeit in smallernum- migrantrecords anywhere outside Alaska in influxes in North America, even at Gain- bersthan in westernAlaska) but arerarely the United States? bell,where both pipits occur regularly and recorded from the Pacific Northwest and where neither can be considered a southeasternAlaska. Records of long-dis- Distributional clues ß "vagrant"in any real respect. It is quite tancemigrants such as Red-flanked Bluetail, Thedistributions of thesetwo pipit taxa are possible,of course,that a mix of Red- Arctic Warbler, Black-backedWagtail, divergent,enough so that findinga single, throatedPipits from both the Old World Dusky Warbler, Rustic Bunting, Olive- clearreason for their convergence in Califor- and the New World (whichare only a few backedPipit, LanceolatedWarbler, Little nia is difficult. In North America, Red- miles apart here, after all) combinewith Bunting,and Gray Wagtailwould seemto throatedPipit is knownto breedonly in smallernumbers of SiberianPipits at some supportthis scenario;importantly, North smallnumbers on the westerntip of the pointon themigratory route and are thence Americanrecords of Eurasianspecies that SewardPeninsula, Alaska, with other breed- displaced much greater distances. regularlywinter at higherlatitudes--such as ingrecords spanning from Cape Lisburne to Althoughthere is no way at presentto dis- SiberianAccentor and Brambling•donot St. Lawrence Island (Kessel and Gibson tinguishAlaskan-nesting from northeast- conformto thepattern. 1978).While relatively few breeding records ern-Asian-nestingRe&throated Pipits (also Perhapsthe gap in recordscan be existfor thisrugged and somewhat inacces- the casewith Yellow Wagtails),it seems explainedby theseemingly tenacious coastal sibleregion, it is possiblethat this spedes doubtfulthat Asian-nestingRe&throateds distributionof thesepipits, as access to these couldbe breedingin largernumbers than are outnumberedby Alaskanbirds in these areas and the offshore islands is limited from currentlyknown. The great extent and flights.We will leavethat question open. Southeast Alaska to British' Columbia. If
18 NORTH AMERICAN BIRD5 thesetaxa tend to stayas far France, even Norway and west on the outer coasts as Z theAzores following strong possible,then they would low-pressuresystems from LUSSIA Alaska occurprimarily on islands, the North American land- even the western coasts of CANADA mass are eagerlyawaited such islands--areas that eachautumn. It seemslikely receivelittle birdingcoverage. Bering to me that migrant Red- sea throated Pipits are some- WashingtonandOregon are I timescaught up in low-pres- Certainly,fairly heavilythough, birdedcoastal in 5 sure systems,steered uhi-
autumn,canvassedif asnot thenearly Sanso Fran-well •/j their normalmigration pat- ciscoBay area or Southern Pacific Ocean tern by the westerlywinds associatedwith the southern California.Thepaucity of •!'; 25 August2003 pipitssouth of British Colum- • •.S•matelyedgesof to thethe systems.south/east Inof bia and north of California-- yearswhen these systems do singlerecords of Red-throated not predominate, Red- Pipit fromOregon (inland at throatedPipits may end up Wickiup Reservoir, 6-11 reachingSiberia in typical October2003), andWashing- fashion, thus resultingin ton (SanJuan Island, 14-16 veryfew or no recordsfar- September1979)--does not ther south than Gambell. suggestthat thesebirds are On the otherhand, if just a being routinelyoverlooked. few powerfulsystems push When oneconsiders in partic- through the Bering Sea ular the number of pipits region at the appropriate involved in the 1991 and time, intercepting large 2003 invasions,it would seem numbers of Red-throated that even relatively less- Pipits,the endresult might birdedareas should have pro- be dramatic. Instead of end- duced more records of Red- ing up in easternSiberia, throatedPipit at least.Never- Red-throatedPipits would theless,there is danger in find themselves over the interpretinga dearthof data BeringSea, and would thus as an absence of birds. There be forced to fall out on arecertainly many fewer bird- islands in the region-- ers working the vast coast- St.Lawrence Island, the Pri- lines north of California than ., _ bilofs,and the Aleutians,as are active in California; and in lateAugust 2003 (Figure it'salso possible that pipits are 2). As the birds attempt almost never detected in Ore- to reoriem and continue gon andWashington because southwestward,the wester- of the vastexpanse of pipit lies of east-boundcyclones habitat or because the birds might catchthem up once aremoving through these lat- again,forcing them to fly on itudesmore rapidly than in until reachingthe next bit southern California, which Fi• l, lh•s•thraa m•ps s•owi• both th• •ol•r ]•t •tr•m •d th•su• •h•r •om•n• of land, which appears forI• •u•ust200• •iw som•idea matchwintering latitudes in to be--at least for the few i•nPiplts" tumid u• o• •t. t•re• I•nd fallouts on record--coastal Asia.I would be delightedto •tr•s •nd• str•hi• fromth• •m•t• read in a future column that California. Pacific Northwestern birders Why then the slightdis- foundvagrant pipits aplenty •ithth• system, •d t•rd •l•ska.•ith h•h•r•ssur• (•i•do•) toth• south •th• ]•s flow, crepancybetween the tim- on their coasts;the thinking su• wi•dsb• th••h- •nflI•r•ssur• s•st•mswould follo• th• flir•io• •th• J•s ingof Alaskaand California •ds. •s, asth• Jet shi•d •1• southw•rfli• •r, p¾its•m•i• tor•ori•t belowdoes not precludethis records?Red-throated Pip- its move throughGambell possibility. s•or•of •d• •fl th• P•d• •o•s• It wouldappear that pipits and the Pribilofsbeginning undertakinga migrationroute in lateAugust and continue between northeastern Russia through mid-September andJapan (described as a "maritime"route variablepatterns of influxobserved in Cali- (Lehman,in press;D. Lovitch,pers. comm.), by Leeand Birch [2002] [or SiberianPipit) fornia. The abilityof passerinesto make whereasthe majorityof Californiarecords mightbe easily influenced by synoptic-scale long-distancewater crossingswhen fall betweenmid-September and early weathersystems and thus be moreprone to entrainedby such east-boundsystems is November.A simpleexplanation for the dis- disastrous(the majorityof birdsperishing) well known in the northeasternAriantic: the parity is that thesebirds linger on the or successful(the majority surviving) migra- arrivalsof Nearcticand Neotropicalland- Alaskanislands, perhaps to refueland wait tion events,which would then resultin the birds in Iceland, Great Britain, western for favorable local conditions before
•"•LUME58 (2004) NUMBER1 19 attemptingto reorient themselvestoward Park, Kern County in the southwestern migration,especially in remoteareas, will Asia--a behavior that has been documented MojaveDesert. Canadahas but one inland hopefullyunlock secrets that our eyes, even in someof the Asianvagrants encountered record of Red-throated from the White- with scopesand binoculars, cannot. on Southeast Farallon Island off northern horseSewage Ponds, Yukon Territory 18 California(E Pyle,pers. comm.). Indeed, September2000 (Eckertand Gr/mberg Thesilent spring ß bothLehman and Lovitch noted large num- 2001)--and,prior to 2003,there were only Given the large numbersof Red-throated berspresent for severaldays to weeksat eight inland recordsfor California,six of Pipitsdetected in North Americaduring Gainbelland on St. Paulrespectively, and which came during the 1991 invasion invasionyears, at least a few should be both found it difficult to tell ff new birds (McCaskie 1992). The inland record of a foundas spring migrants in NorthAmerica, werearriving or if theywere simply accu- Red-throated from northeastern Arizona at or so one would think. There are but two mulatinghere. If thesespecies indeed wait Kayenta12-17 October1989 (Rosenberg springrecords of alternate-plumagedRed- for favorableweather to continue southwest- and Stejskal1990) standsas the farthest throatedPipits for mainlandMexico: one on ward,it couldbe weeks(in someyears) inlandrecord of thisspecies in NorthAmer- 11 April 1988 in Michoacan,and one in beforethese birds would depart. Perhaps, in ica. March 1992 in Colima (Howell and Webb someyears, they successfully return to the Why the discrepancyin recordsbetween 1992, 1995). The only winter recordis of Asian mainland,and perhaps,in others, coastal and interior sites: is it the distribu- onecollected at SanJose del Cabo,Baja Cal- unforeseenweather events ultimately guide tion of the birds--or of the birders--that iforniaSur on 26 January1883 (Ridgway them to the North American mainland. A producesthis difference?If pipitsexperi- 1883).There are now only four other spring bit of Septemberbirding on the Aleutians enceunfavorable weather conditions during recordsfor Red-throatedPipit outsideof mightshed light on thisquestion. migrationand attemptto compensatefor Alaska.What is happening to birdsthat suc- The Jet'sinfluence on weathersystems these conditionslater, it makes sensethat cessfullyover-winter atlatitudes comparable and the relateddisplacements of birds is a most would be encounteredalong the to those of their normal winter areas? Per- topicthat abounds in questionsbut yields PacificCoast, where they would be concen- hapsit's a matterof the lack of interestin fewobvious answers, despite ample meteor- trated first by initial arrival and subse- birdingtheir preferred habitat at theappro- ological data available on the World- quentlyby attemptsto reorientthemselves priatetime of year(probably May in Califor- WideWeb(see
20 NORTH AMERICAN BIROS to prepareis to learnits diagnosticflight- recordsof vagrantsin the less-birdedinte- smaller scale. call,a high,thin, slightly buzzy "speee!" As rior, andwhen conditions become favorable The conspicuousCave Swallow provides birders become better versed in the identifi- for migration--inthe mind of a reverse- a strikingexample of a speciesfor which this cation of these two taxa, we will undoubt- migrant,this would be the southerlyor scale is not smaller for interior sites: of some edlylearn more about their occurrencein southwesterlywinds that makefor energy- 77 reportedthis autumn (north of Florida, North America. efficientflight to the north-northeast--they eastof theMississippi), about 28 camefrom takeflight and arriveen masseacross the sitesaway from the Atlantic,mosdy along Reverse-migration&western mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, concentrat- the GreatLakes (Table 1). The patternthis vagrantsinthe East ingat thelast bits of landto thenortheast, fall was similar to that of the autumn 2002 Thetopic of avianvagrancy to theCanadian the CanadianMarltimes and New England, flightin the Northeast--butthe southern Marltimes,and to the Northeastgenerally, but alsodetected to the southalong most of component,assumed in 2002 to be "reori- hasoccupied a place of prominence in North the EastCoast. The championsmake it to enting"individuals moving back southward American Birds and its forerunners for some Icelandand western Europe. on north winds (Brinkley and Lehman years,with commentators inyears past refer- Thelists of migrants(perhaps more tech- 2003), was completelymissing this year. ring to the so-called"Scotia Shadow," a nically"vagrants") associated with these fall- First records for New Brunswick, New vagrancyshadow of North American outs in the Maritimes are sometimes Hampshire,and Massachusettswere noted Neotropicalmigrants that extends from New astounding--readingmore like the results of to the north of 2002'ssites. In all cases,Cave Englandinto the MaritimeProvinces (cf. a Septemberday on the Gulf Coastthan a Swallowswere located during southwester- Brinkleyand Lehman 2003). Emphasisin normalOctober day in the Marltimes(see liesthat preceded the passage of coldfronts thepast has been on relationships of strong McLarenet al. 2000). Justas with the Asian (a few) or during/afternorthwesterly winds low-pressuresystems to thesemovements, pipits, two questionspose themselves: of the passingcold front (most);a few of but toolittle consideration has been given to Where did these birds come from? How far thesebirds seem to lingeraround lakes or anotherquestion: Why are thesebirds lin- didthey travel? In thecase of the1998 fall- coastalareas in mostplaces, for up to a geringin thesenortherly latitudes to such out in Nova Scotia,McLaren et al. (2000) week. These Cave Swallow events show late datesin the first place? Suchreverse- makea goodcase for over-waterentrain- dearpatterns: I, 718,and 24/25 November migrationhas been identified as a potential mentby a fast-movingoffshore low-pressure werethe main displacement events, all days reasonwhy certain Eurasian strays end up in cell. But in mostcases involving fallout of of cold-frontalpassage. One couldsurmise Alaska,or why Fork-tailedFlycatchers and "late"migrants in theNortheast, such birds that Cave Swallows first move northeast- TropicalKingbirds end up in theNortheast are found at coastal or insular locations fol- wardon southwesterlywinds and are subse- andNorthwest, respectively, but its effecton lowingthe passage of a low-pressuresystem quentlyconcentrated and made more find- birds within their home continent is less onshore,from the west. How far might ableby thesubsequent northwesterlies. On oftenexplored. these birds have traveled to reach these loca- the onehand, the consistentlylate dates of It seemslikely that the phenomenonof tions?Again, the citedMaritime Canadian their appearances(sometimes with a few reverse-migrationis far morecommon than example(McLaren et al. 2000)involved an other late swallows, including vagrant we mightsuspect. [f what we know of apparentlylong flight over water from the Brown-chestedMartin and MangroveSwal- reverse-migrationis based largely on the south,but in mostinstances, Neotropieal low) suggeststhat thesebirds are "dassic" appearanceof vagrantbirds, then what of passefineswould probably travel at most misorientedmigrants, but on theother hand thisphenomenon on a smallerscale, or in 600-650 km non-stopunder thesecondi- their apparentreorientation southward (at low-profile(that is, more common) species? tions(based on myobservations in the Gulf leastin 2002) would seemto supportthe Doesit alsotake place in shortor medium- of Mexico). My hunch is that migrants argumentthat thesebirds were displaced distancemigrants, but we simplyfail to rec- arrivingin theNortheast during these events rather than misonented. One wonders ognizeit assuch? My guessis thatit occurs musthave been present not far awayin the whethera capacityto reorientsouthward in manymigratory species but thatwe con- interiorprior to thesestorm systems,per- duringincreasingly cold weather is incom- nectthe behaviorchiefly with thosespecies hapsoriginating from areas only a fewhun- patiblewith migratorymisorientation as we makinglarge-scale migratory movements. dred kilometers to the west or southwest. currentlydescribe it. In the case of the Canadian Maritimes and My suppositionis thatlarge numbers of Wideningthe view from Cave Swallows to most of the Northeast,the appearanceof vagrantsare likely presentthroughout the encompass.asample of other western species verylate Neotropieal migrants is surelyan interior continental United States and locatedin theEast this spring (Table 2), the exampleof thisbehavior. It seemspossible Canada,and it is chiefly when weather neat correlationof birds' first appearances that largenumbers of suchmigrants com- events concentratethem (dominant south- with cold fronts' passagesfalters some- mencetheir migration already misoriented, westerly,then northwesterlywinds)--or what--but not asmuch as one might antici- makingtheir way mostlynorth during the concentrations of birders find them--that pate.In fact,an analysis of thedates in Table fall insteadof south.Over time (say, several theyare detected. I suggest that misoriented 2 showsthat a dearmajority of "firstdates" weeksin September),this wouldresult in migrantsmove northward on a broadfront correspondsto frontal activity in their waywardindividuals attempting to find acrossNorth America and that they might be respectiveregions, which of coursevary resourcesin the relativelycold northern (andto an extentare) found anywhere over more than do those of the more-concen- areasduring late September and early Octo- the courseof an autumn. The heavycon- tratedCave Swallows'. (Though many such ber. PerImpsthese individuals continue to centratingeffects of the coast,coupled with birdsare found on weekends,this may be moveslowly northward at thistime, despite offshorewinds on eithercoast, can produce lesstrue now than in thepast.) What• strik- the increasinglynortherly winds of late remarkableconcentrations of migrantand ingin theroster of raritiesin Table2 is that autumn,or perhaps they find a locationthat vagrantbirds, but interiorsites•especially somany of the rarestwere noted in associa- hasample resources and remain there. Per- along"coastal" edges at lakes,reservoirs, tionwith the big three November fronts that hapsthese birds "stage" on a broadfront and major rivers•are turning out to be movedCave Swallows--Marylandg second acrossthe Northeastand Canada,foraging increasinglyproductive places to witness Mountain Bluebird, Massachusetts'second onwhat resources remain, resulting in fewer this autumnphenomenon on a usually HammondgFlycatcher, South Carohna's two
VOLUME 58 (2004) NUMBER 1 21 Table1. CaveSwallows in the Great Lakes What one misses with the limited the farthersouth and west one goes in the andNortheast infall 2003, ordered by date. focuson westernvagrants, however, is "East," the less correlation to cold fronts themassive context, the Big Picture: the there appearsto be for mostspecies or NUMBER LOCATION FIRSTDAI• enormousflights of commonerspecies groups of species. And third, some CapeMay, NJ 29Oct thataccompany these birds on thefronts species--notablymost westernDendroica NiagaraFalls, ON 1 Nov and providecontext for their appear- warblersand those few Lark Buntings•turn ance. Read the "S.A. Box" in the Hud- up decidedlyearlier than the main push of Pt.Lepreau, NB 3 Nov* son-Delawarereport on the million-plus late flycatchers,Cave Swallows, and spar- Tohermory,ON 4 Nov birds,among them hundredsof thou- rows. Someof thesepoints seem intuitive: CranberryMarsh, ON 6 Nov sandsof AmericanRobins, that passed thesewarblers and Lark Buntings are usually throughthat region8 November. No earlymigrants, so why shouldn'tthey turn PointPelee N.P., ON 7 Nov other easternregions reported birds in up earlierthan most sparrows, which move LongPt., ON 7 Nov suchnumbers that day, but Newfound- laterin thefall? Butif onewanted to argue land had its second firm record of Ves- Connecticutcoast (various) 8 Nov thatall thebirds in Table2 arespecifically per Sparrowat CapeSpear 7 November, misorientedmigrants, then such birds do not Chariestown,RI 8 Nov a speciesthat was numerousat Cape seem to fit with the October/November win- Erieau,ON 8 Nov May, New Jerseythe next day and dowfor otherwayward westerners. nearPoint Pelee N.P. 8 Nov detectedas far southas Virginia's coast In fact,there must be multiple reasons for thatweekend. Vesper Sparrow, though thebirds included in Table2 tohave strayed. SturgeonCreek, ON 8 Nov not a far-westernspecies by anymeans, The Lewis'sWoodpecker in Wisconsin,for Pt.Petre, Prince Edward, ON BNov providesa goodindex for how broad the instance,is likely the outlier in a majorflight nearHillman Marsh, ON 9 Nov flighton thisfront probably was, as do of thatspecies and of AcornWoodpecker, numerous other species (see the probablylinked to deoughtand to thewide- PointPelee N.P., ON 9 Nov regionalreports). In narrowingthe spreadfailure of the acorncrop out West; JonesBeach, NY 9 Nov focusto westerners,too, we missgen- the Band-tailedPigeons may have a similar Culver'sLake, NJ 10Nov uinely rare reverse-migrantsfrom the connection.The Black-throated Gray War- ScotiaShadow such as the LeastFly- biersthat pass through the Eastin Septem- CedarSprings, ON 10Nov catcheron 18 Novemberat Marblehead, ber,for example, may be displaced migrants, LighthousePt.,CT 15Nov Massachusetts•notto mention very or possibly "mirror-image"migrants, Orleans,MA 15Nov* latebirds such as Maryland's 9 Novem- whereas those that arrive in late November ber Yellow-throatedVireo, a host of or December could be considered more HamlinBeach, NY 24Nov November cuckoos, Rose-breasted severelymisoriented. In tryingto perceivea Rye,NH 26Nov* Grosbeaks,Rufous Hummingbirds, BigPicture here, it is importantto consider LighthousePt.,CT 25Nov Indigoand PaintedBuntings, southern that the passageof cold frontsin the fall warblers, Blue Grosbeaks, Yellow- surely revealmultiple phenomena:both Bridgeport,CT 26Nov headedand Brewer'sBlackbirds, Scissor- thosebirds that haveexperienced modest- CranberryMarsh, ON 26Nov tailedand Fork-tailedFlycatchers, pos- to-significantlongitudinal displacement Chatham,MA 27Nov siblelate GreatCrested Flycatchers in (suchas the SeptemberLark Buntingsand severalstates, and less-commonspar- morecommonly Lark Sparrows and Dickcis- firststate or provincial record rowssuch as Le Come's,Clay-colored, sels) and late birds that are found far, far Atleast 13 more were reported from Cape May during Iqovernber and Lark. (And I have not even men- north of normal, such as the October/ 2003,mostly after cold fronts, wilh several lingering fordays or even weeksafterward; thishas been atypical pattern there since about tionedWhite-winged Doves.) Exclud- November/Decemberflycatchers, vireos, 1997,where •vernber records extend back to 1991. ing areasimmediately west of the Mis- southernwarblers, and tanagers. The wide- sissippiRiver causedthe omissionof spreadNovember 2003 records of "Summer" Calliope Hummingbirds(at the same one of the mostsurprising vagrants in the Tanagersin Michigan,Wisconsin, Indiana, feeder),Delaware's first Say'sPhoebe, both "East,"a CostagHummingbird in Minnesota andNova Scotia depict the latterphenome- the Tropical/Couch'sKingbird in New that almostescaped identification (see the non acrossan especiallywide swath. In Hampshire(its firs0 andthe Couch'sKing- S.A.Box). Truncatingthe season at Novera- morenumerous species, and in thosewhose bird x Scissor-tailedFlycatcher hybrid in bergend, too, eliminates the incredible Gray breedingrange is closeto theEast (or whose New York (a first anywhere),a Cassin's Flycatchersin Ontarioand North Carolina winterrange includes the East,especially Kingbirdin Florida,a goodnumber of Ash- foundin Decemberand the apparent coastal Florida),we probablysee a mix of bothdis- throatedFlycatchers, Virginia's three Harris's incursion of Common Ground-Doves to placedand misoriented individuals: an Ash- Sparrows, a Western Meadowlark on North Carolina on 30 November and Vir- throatedFlycatcher on 5 Septemberin MarthagVineyard, New Hampshire'sthird giniaon 1 December. Floridamay be less likely to be severely mis- Bell's•reo, Qu•bec'sTownsend's Solitaire, a Despiteits shortcomings, Table 2 prompts oriented than one on the French island of St. fewVaried Thrushes, Tennessee's first Sage a few more interestingobservations and Pierre on 22 November. The Hudson- Thrasher,a flockof Smith'sLongspurs in speculations. First, the "commoner"or Delawarereport and other reportssome- Indiana.... thelist goeson. Andit's proba- more widespreadrarities from the West-- times (tentatively) distinguishmigrants ble that a few birds were not discovered in Ash-throatedFlycatcher (minimally 19 foundduring southwesterly winds (at Cape the first day or two of their arrivalin the birds),Say's Phoebe (7), Gambel'sWhite- May,for example,7 November2003) from locationswhere found, so one would not crownedSparrow (7), VermilionFlycatcher thosenoted after cold fronts; with yearsof expecteven the high degreeof correlation (6), Black-headedGrosbeak (5)--tend to observationsat sites like CapeMay, we may thatTable 2 appearsto document(there are, showup ona widerrange of datesand seem be ableto distinguishsuch birds with more afterall, still many more weekend-only bird- lessfled to severecold fronts' passage than confidencein the future: birds moving ers than not). dosome other categories ofspecies. Second, northeastward,ahead of cold fronts, from
22 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS CHANGING SEASON Table2. Westernpassefines and near-passednes found east of the Mississippi River, fall 2003, ordered by date within taxa.
SPECIES NO. LOCATION FIRSTDATE Townsend'sSolitaire 1 WestBeach, IN 21Nov VariedThrush 1 MarquetteCounty, MI 9Oct Band-tailedPigeon 1 Westree,ON 26Sep VariedThrush 1 ChincoteagueH.W.R., VA 19Oct Band-tailedPigeon 1 London,ON 17Nov VariedThrush ! Bushnell,IL 20Nov VariedThrush 1 Neehah,WI 27Nov Black-thinnedHummingbird 1 Simpsonville,SC 18Oct Black-thinnedHummingbird 1 Savannah,GA 30Oct SageThrasher 1 FortWalton Beach, FL 23Oct Black-chinnedHummingbird 1 Savannah,GA 14Nov SageThrasher 1 KnoxCounty, TN 8 Nov Black-chinnedHummingbird 1 RipleyGardens, DC 17Nov* CalliopeHummingbird 1 BlountCounty, TN 28Oct Virginia'sWarbler 1 FortMorgan, AL 29Sep CalliopeHummingbird 2 Greer,SC 9 Nov Audubon'sWarbler 1 FrogPond W.M.A., FL 28Oct Allen'sHummingbird ô 1 CapeMay, NJ 14Nov Black-throatedGrayWarbler 1 CapeMay, HJ 6 Sep Black-throatedGrayWarbler 1 KennesawMt.,GA 8Sep Lewis'sWoodpecker 1 OzaukeeCount, Wl 21Oct Black-throatedGrayWarbler 1 CapeMay, NJ 16Sep Black-throatedGrayWarbler 1 AssateagueI.,MD 22Oct WesternWood-Pewee 1 AssateagueI.,MD 4Oct Townsend'sWarbler (type) 1 Hapatree,RI 30Sep WesternWood-Pewee 1 VirginiaBeach, VA 12Oct • Grace'sWarbler 1 IVlontroseBeach, IL 8 Sep Hammond'sFlycatcher 1 TuckemuckI.,MA 1Nov MacGillivray'sWarbler 1 Radnor,TH 25Oct Say'sPhoebe 1 WhitefishPt.,MI 31Aug MacGillivray'sWarbler 1 Bradford,• 1 Nov Say'sPhoebe 1 WestTisbury, • 10Sep MacGillivray'sWarbler 1 TreeTops Park, FL 16Nov Say'sPhoebe 1 WhitefishPt.,MI 23Sep MacGillivray'sWarbler 1 Westport,MA 27Nov Say'sPhoebe 1 MillerBeach, IN 29Sep Say'sPhoebe 1 FortPickens, FL 13Oct WesternTanager 1 CapeLookout, NC 29Sep Say'sPhoebe 1 BonPortage I.,NS 15Oct WesternTanager 1 Port-Daniel,PQ 19Oct Say'sPhoebe 1 CarlyleL.,iL 31Oct WesternTanager 1 Plymouth,NH 30Nov Say'sPhoebe 1 BombayHook, DE 1Nov* VermilionFlycatcher 1 IVlobileCounty, AL 10Oct Green-tailedTowhee 1 Whitef•hPt., MI 24Sep VermilionFlycatcher 1 JacksonCounty, MS 16Oct Green-tailedTowhee 1 WayneCounty, MI 29Nov VermilionFlycatcher 1 BaldPt., FL 19Oct SpottedTowhee 1 Sept-lies,PQ 12Nov VermilionFlycatcher 1 L Apopka,FL 22Oct SpottedTowhee 1 WaukeshaCounty, Wl 12Nov VermilionFlycatcher 1 FrogPond W.M.A., FL 25Oct Brewer'sSparrow 1 FortPickens, FL 24Sep VermilionFlycatcher 1 FortWalton Beach, FL 22Nov LarkBunting 1 RacineCounty, WI 25Aug LarkBunting 1 AppledoreI.,ME 7Sep Ash-tl•oatedFlycatcher 1 SantaRosa County, FL 5Sep LarkBunting 1 ScarboroughManh, ME 18Sep Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 PointeVerte, HB 11Oct LarkBunting 1 Whiter•hPt., MI 13Oct Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 FortNIorgan, AL 15Oct Harris'sSparrow 1 GreatMeadows N.W.R., MA 7 Oct Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 BaldPt., FL 19Oct Harris'sSparrow 1 HeadlandsBeach S.P., OH 12Oct Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 FortWalton Beach, FL 23Oct Harr'•'sSparrow 1 E.Shore ofVirginia H.W.R., VA 7Nov Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 FortPickens, FL 29Oct Harr'•'sSparrow 1 E.Shore ofVirginia H.W.R., VA 9 Nov Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 L Apopka,FL 5Nov Harris'sSparrow 1 Haney,NB 15Nov Ash-throatedFlycatcher 2 PaynesPrairie, FL 5Nov (+) Harris'sSparrow 1-2 JulieMetz Wetlands, VA 22Nov Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 Stoneham,MA 7 NOv GambersWhite-crowned Sparrow 1 Tadoussac,PQ 8Oct Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 PeaIsland N.W.R., NC 8 Nov GambersWhite-crowned Sparrow 1 Rimouski,PQ 12Oct Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 SanFelasco Hammock, FL 10Nov GambersWhite-crowned Sparrow 1 NorthamptonCounty, PA 13Oct Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 OrleansParish, LA 10Nov GainhersWhite-crowned Sparrow 1 TerrapinPark, MO 18Oct Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 Melrose,IVlA 11Nov GarnbersWhite-c•ownedSparrow 1 Hewbury,MA 26Oct Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 CapeMay, HJ 10Nov Gambel'sWhite-crowned Sparrow 1 WestBrattlebo•o, VT 28Oct Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 NewRiver Beach, HB 18Nov Gambel'sWhite.owned Sparrow 1 CuyahogaCounty, OH 2Nov Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 MarthasVineyard, MA 18Nov OregonJunco 1 PipestoneS.P., WV 29Nov Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 St.Pierre, SPM 22Nov Smith'sLongspur 1 WhitefishPt.,MI 26Sep Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 EmeraldaMarsh, FL 27Nov Srnith'sLongspur 1 WhitefishPt.,MI 9Oct Ash-throatedFlycatcher 1 NorthRiver, HC 30Nov Srnith'sLongspur 1 MillerBeach, IN 29Oct TropicalKingbird 1 L Apopka,FL 12Nov Smith'sLongspur 8-10 Richland,IL 2NOv Tropical/Couch'sKingbird 1 Claremont,HH 2Nov* Couch'sKingbird hybrid 1 Leicester,NY 9 NOv Black-headedGrosbeak 1 BeaverdamPark, VA 12Sep Cassin'sKingbird 1 L Apopka,FL 27Nov Black-headedGrosbeak 1 SanFelasco Hammock, FL 26Sep Black-beadedGrosbeak 1 NIonheganI.,ME earlyOct Bell'sVireo 1 KennesawMt., GA 5 Oct Black-headedGrosbeak 1 Derry,NH 31Oct Bell'sVireo 1' 1 Exeter,NH 1 Nov Black-headedGrosbeak 1 LaPocafi&re, PQ 21Nov Cassin'sVireo 1 CapTourmente, PQ 1Oct WesternMeadowlark 1 Martha'sVineyard, MA 26Nov RockWren 1 BayCounty, MI 20Oct WesternMeadowlark 1 G•eeneCounty, GA 15Nov
MountainBluebird 1 AssateagueI.,MD 8 Nov* * = potentialfirst state or district record Townsend'sSolitaire 1 Sept-lies,PQ 9Nov 1'= otherBell's Vireos were noted in Florida and Tennessee, where less unusual Townsend'sSolitaire 1 LyonsWoods, IL 19Nov ô= manyother eastern Selasphor•s wereoften not identified beyond Rufous/Allen's
VOLUME 58 (2004) NUMBER 1 23 thosemoving southeastward, on the wakes than normal and its inverse. coastalvagrants for severalreasons. First, a of thefronts. Again, radar studies and satel- ThePolar Jet's hand in movingsuch birds reversedorientation in thepipits would not lite trackingcould be immenselyuseful in is almostalways apparent, as with thepipits account for the directions of movement makingsuch distinctions. A recentpaper in theWest, but here I argueagainst reverse- observed.Second, pipits' movements, at (Gilroyand Lees2003) arguesagainst the migration(misorientafion, or faultynaviga- least as we have documented them in North modelof "reverse-migration"and contends tionin thebroad sense) in thepipits and for Americathus far, appearto be similarto that birdsdisperse in manydirections other it in the case of some late-season Atlantic thosein easternEurasia, with birds moving
Table3. Strictlypdagic seabirds found coastally &inland following Hurricane Isabelin September 2003.
SPECIES NO. LOCATION DATE Band-rumpedStorm-Petrel 1' PotomacR.,DC 19Sep (continued) 1- Beliefonce,PA 19Sep Herald(Trinidade) Petrel 1 KerrRes., VA 195ep 1 CapeMay, NJ 19Sep 1- BaldEagle S.P., PA 19-20Sep I- ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 20Sep Black-cappedPetrel 5 ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 19Sep 4 ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 20Sep 1- FortErie, ON and vicinity 205ep Leaoh'sStorm-Petrel 1 AirlieRes., VA 19Sep 2 FairhavenS.P., NY 21Sep 1 L.Anna, VA 19Sep 2- WaverlyBeach, ON 23Sep (1') 1 YellowCreek S.P., PA 19Sep 1 Syracuse,NY 24Sep * 1 BaldEagle S.P., PA 19Sep 15. ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 19Sep 20- ChesapeakeBayBridge-TunneI, VA 20Sep Cory'sShearwater 1- Bellefonte,PA 195ep 12 ChesapeakeBayBridge-TunneI, VA 195ep 2 ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 20Sep unidentifiedstorm-petrel 1 L Frederick,VA 19Sep 1- BaldEagle S.P., PA 20Sep [mostlyBand-rumped/ 3 SwiftCreek Res., VA 19Sep 1 McClure,PA 21Sep Leaoh'sStormPetrels] 1 betweenFront Royal &Luray, VA 19Sep 1 BelvoirRd. Pond, Fauquier Co.,VA 19Sep 38- ChesapeakeBayBridge-TunneI, VA 19Sep Audubon'sShearwater 1 CapeMay, NJ 19Sep 3 CapeMay, NJ 19Sep 2 PortBruce, ON 19& 22 Sep ManxShearwater 1 CapeMay, NJ 195ep 25- ChesapeakeBayBridge-TunneI, VA 20Sep 1 SusquehannaR.at Fort Hunter, PA 20Sep Manx/Audubon'sShearwater 1 L.Gaston, NC 19Sep 1 Ithacaarea, Cayuga L,NY 21Sep 2 CapeMay, NJ 19Sep White-tailedTropid•ird1 RoanokeRapids L,NC 19Sep Wilson'sStorm-Petrel 9 L fiaston-RoanokeRapidsL., NC 19Sep 1 Richmond,VA 19Sep 1 fioldsboroW.T.P., NC 19Sep 1 ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tun nel,VA 19Sep 2- HuntingCr., VA 19Sep 1 s.of Smithfield, Johnston Co.,NC 20Sep • 56. ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 19Sep 2 SwiftCreek Res., VA 19Sep SootyTem 7 SunsetBeach, Northampton Co.,VA 18Sep 3' PotomacR.,DC 19Sep 1 ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 19Sep 1 SusquehannaR.at Fort Hunter, PA 19Sep 2 ConejohelaFlats, Lancaster Co.,PA 19Sep 1 RoseValley L,PA 19Sep 1 Delawarefl.,Philadelphia, PA 19Sep 1 CapeMay, NJ 19Sep 1 NockamixonS.P., Bucks Co., PA 19Sep 5 ChautauquaL.,NY 19Sep 2 CapeMay, NJ 19Sep 1 WoodlawnBeach S.P., NY 19-20Sep 2 ShinnecockInlet,NY 19Sep 1. VanWagners Beach, Hamilton, ON 19& 22 Sep 1 HamfinBeach, NY 19Sep 20. ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 20Sep 3 PointBreeze, Monroe Co., NY 21Sep 2 CayugaL, NY 20Sep 1 PointPelee N. P., ON 22Sep 3 RiisPark, Queens, NY 20Sep 1 HamfinBeach, NY 23Sep 1 AtholSprings, NY 20Sep 1 Charlotte,VT 20Sep 3 FairhavenS.P., NY 21Sep BridledTern 1- Suffolk,VA 18Sep 1 L.Champlain, NY 21Sep 1 Cheficon,VA 18Sep 1 PearceP.P., ON 23Sep • 3- SunsetBeach, Northampton Co.,VA 18Sep 1 Tipon Long Point, ON 27Sep 130' ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 19Sep 1 CrescentBeach, ON 27Sep 5 CapeMay, NJ 19Sep 1. VanWagnersBeach, Hamilton, ON 27Sep • 1 ShinnecockInlet,NY 19Sep 1 HamfinBeach, NY 19-23Sep 9- ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 20Sep Band-rumpedSton•-Petrel 1 SunsetBeach, Northampton Co.,VA 18Sep 1- Suffolk,VA 21Sep* 1 SatterwhitePt.,Kerr L., NC 19Sep 2" ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 21Sep 1 KerrRes., VA 19Sep 17- ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 19Sep Sooty/BridledTern 3- ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 19Sep 1- HuntingCr., VA 19Sep 1 RiisPark, Queens, NY 19Sep 1 L.Anna, VA 19Sep 2- ChesapeakeBayBridge-Tunnel, VA 24Sep *
ß= possibleorprobable duplication ofindividual birdsin adjacent locations and/or onother dates involved • = deadbirds observed orspecimen taken
24 NORTH AMERICAN BIRD fartherand farther south with thecoming of olina, the state of landfall, and at Point canelandfalls are quite rare, but Isabel's colderweather; the timing of theirextralim- Pelee,Ontario, where a loneSooty Tern was numberwas not unprecedented. Of thenow ital appearancesis nowhere notoriously late. seenthree days after the stormhad passed 30 records of hurricane-driven White-tailed And third,the flights of pipitsare relatively (Figure 3). The great girth of Isabel--a Tropicbirdsrecorded in the East north of homogeneous,whereas the fallouts of storm that covered more area than the state Florida 0876-2003), all but three are Neotropicaland othermigrant birds in the of Colorado---cansurely account for a few clearlyassociated with thepassage of major Northeastthrough Europe are most remark- birds "left of center." (Category3 and above)hurricanes. (Not able for their heterogeneity:the varietyof Despitesuch conformity to overallexpec- includedhere is a reportof a White-tailed speciesis oftenmore remarkable than the tations,Isabel proved that we knowfar less fromShubenacadie, Nova Scotia 6 Septem- numberof any particularspecies. There about such stormsthan we might think. ber i870, a yearfor whichthere are no hur- mustsurely be misorientedpipits out there, Given the patternsof displacementfrom ricanedata.) The all-timerecord is heldby but such a bird that flies north or northeast previoussimilar mid-Atlanticstorms (see Hurricane#4 of i938, which struckLong or eastfrom breeding areas is not likely to previousissues of this journal), Isabel's Islandand New England as a Category3 on encounterany birders--orto survivefor pelagicbird compositionwas umque. Of 2i September,displacing six tropicbirds, verylong. Thetug-of-war between concepts special interest was the unprecedented three to New York and three to Vermont. of weather-relateddisplacement and migra- inland displacementof Wilson'sStorm- HurricaneHazel of i5 October i954, a Cat- torymisorientafion in thisjournal has gone Petrels,the high countsof Band-rumped egory4 storm,displaced four: one to Vir- on for decades;it should be clear that both Storm-Petrel so late in the season, the ginia,two to Pennsylvania,one to NewYork. models,alone and in concert,apply to situa- unusual proportion of Bridled (versus Storm-petrelsare displacedinto the inte- tions such as those considered above. Sooty)Terns, and the displacement of multi- rior to a lesserdegree than severalother Knowingto whatdegree a particularbird is ple tropicbirds.The combinedefforts of "hurricane-birds"such as SootyTerns or movedaway from "normal" migratory path- innumerable individuals made Isabel's fall- LaughingGull, andmost confirmed records waysby one factoror anotheris probably out surelythe best-studiedin history. For in the East refer to the Leach's Storm-Petrel impossible,but the ratherdifferent coastal theparticulars, see the SpecialInterregional (at least 35 reports,i879-i989, totaling falloutsof pipitsand November'sNeotropi- Reporton thestorm-birds in thisissue. 8i+), with a few of Band-rumpedStorm- cal migrantpassetines in the Northeastdo Tropicbirdsof bothspecies are scarcein Petrel(five reports, two showing no relation presentus with at leasta hint thatdiscrimi- the inshoreGulf Streamby late September. to hurricanes;Brinkley, in ms.). Betweenthe nationmay some day be feasible. Isabel entrained at least four White-tailed yearsi842 and i996, storm-relatedreports Tropicbirds,two eachin Virginiaand North of the smaller Wilson's Storm-Petrel number HurricaneIsabel Carolina.Tropicbirds associated with hurri- only about 23, thoughmany of theseare Autumn 2003 broughtHurricane Isabel to the mid-Atlantic coast. Watched with a mixtureof dreadand anticipation by birders throughmid-September, the stormwavered little in its final week offshore,making a beeline for the southeastern coasts of North Carolina,hurricane alley itself_ The storm made landfall near Drum Inlet, North Car- olinaat mid-dayon 18 September,and then like Fran of 1996,charged to the northwest towardthe GreatLakes, depositing numer- ouspelagic species in itswake (Table 3, Fig- ure 3), alongwith scoresof birdsclearly moved from littoral areas--such as Black Skimmers,Royal Terns, American Oyster- catchers--andhundreds of seabirdsproba- 05•,19S bly or possiblymoved from offshore and the coast(many LaughingGulls, six Sabine's Gulls, nine additionalspecies of tern, all threejaegers, both phalaropes, and possibly Brown Pelican). Not since Fran had such a diversityof seabirdsbeen observed in the • timelocationand •approximate storm •e•er easterninterior. The pelagicbirds found HP He•ld •rinidade) P•rel inlandafter the storm conformed classically BP Black-•p•d P•rel Cox's •ea•ater to pastmodels (as theorized in e.g., Fussell •dubon's Shea•ater and Allen-Grimes 1980, LeGrand 1990), •A•anx•m•Audubon's Shea•ater Shea•a•er inasmuch as >99% of such birds found were M•LEGEND alongthe track of thedisintegrating eye (the BRLP Band-rum•dLeaoh's Storm-P•relStorm-P•rel •UP Wh•e-•il•unidentified storm-R•relTropicbird "centerof circulation"marked on Figure3) STSoo.• Tern or to theeast of thistrack. (The mostpow- BT Bridled T•n erfulwinds in a movinghurricane are found WPS/BWilson'sSooty/Bridled Storm-PetrelTern in the "right-front"quadrant, where it is thought,along with the stormvortex, most Figure3. Plottingsofonshore and inshore tubenoses, tropicbirds, andtropical terns during and following the landfall birdsare caughtup.) The few birdsto the ofHurricanelsabelof2OO3,rnostfrornlgor2OSepternber(cross-referenceTable3). Potentialduplkation involved in west of the track were seen in North Car- adjacentreports isnot represented. Allreports considered tentative unless verified by the approp•'•e state/provindal birdrecords committee. Map by Virginia Maynard.
VOLUME 58 (2004) NUMBER 1 25 unveriflable and there are at least a dozen as thisone suggest that this species can be New York were noted on the Atlantic outer reportsof live, unidentifiedstorm-petrels carried inland from areaswell out to sea (as coasts(7), ChesapeakeBay mouth (130+), 1884-1985(Brinkley, in ms.). ManyWil- Murphy [1936] first argued), certainly or its tributaries(1-2). SootyTerns were son'shave been seenalong Atlantic coast- beyondthe areas explored by pelagictrips at seen on the outer coasts (11) and also linesduring and followinghurricanes, and thistime of year. located,as expected,far inland on Lakes there was apparentlya very large kill of The compositionand numbers of species Erie and Ontario (5, at least) and eastern storm-petrelsnoted 27-30 August1893 that presentin and nearthe Gulf Streamoff the Pennsylvania(4). Why preciselySooties stretchedfrom Beaufortto Capekookout, southeasternUnited States immediately appearso much more inclined to be dis- North Carolina and south to the Isle of priorto hurricanelandfalls, however, could placedinland, while Bridleds hug the coast, Palms,South Carolina (Auk 16: 247). Com- wellbe very important in determiningwhich is not dear, but SootyTern's natural his• ments such as "10 miles of beach covered" speciesare movedinto the interior. This tory--it foragesin the openAtlantic and with storm-petrelsand "beachesstrewn" influenceis potentially illustrated in thepat- makes frequent trans-Atlanticflights-- with storm-petrelssuggest massive mortality tern of "tropicaltern" displacement shown wouldseem preadapted for long-rangedis- of at leastsome Witsong (the only species by Isabel:Bridled Terns had been,as usual, persal or displacement.Atlantic Bridled mentioned) in this "Great Hurricane of very commonin thesewaters through Sep- Terns,by contrast,specialize on thepelagic 1893." Nevertheless, contra the historic tember,but SootyTerns had been scarce or drift communityin the western North assumptionthat this speciesis not likely to absentin September,according to BrianPat- Ariantic,commonly use flotsamperches be movedinland by hurricanes,some 38 teson,who suggeststhat the earlierSeptem- betweenbouts of foraging,and do not nor- Wilson's Storm•Petrels were located in the ber sweepby HurricaneFabian east of the mallydisperse far fromnatal areas. interior alongIsabel• path, includingthe areamight have been a factorin theSooties' Relativelyfew seabirdsare recordeddur- interior lakes and rivers of North Carolina, scarcity.The absence of largeschools of Yel- ing theactual landfall of thesestorms, when Virginia,Pennsylvania, New York,Vermont, lowfin Tuna,which Sootiesfollow when for- conditionsmake it difficultor impossibleto and Ontario(Table 3, Figure3), a figure aging,could also account for theirlow num- searchfor birdsin any case;most seabird approachingtwice the totalof suchreports bers with Isabel. records instead come from areas that seem to ever. If onewere to lookonly at raw numbers, concentratebirds returning toward the sea. What factors were different about Isabel this stormwas unique among mid-Atlantic Duringthe landfall of Isabel,I spentthe day that causedthis remarkabledisplacement hurricanesin displacinglarger numbers of with severalobservers on thesouthern tip of event of these small seabirds? In terms of BridledTerns than SootyTerns. These two theDelmarva Peninsula watching the mouth storm track and timing, Isabd was most outwardlysimilar species have historically of the ChesapeakeBay from shelter on Sun- doselyrelated to Fran of September1996, beendisplaced by numeroushurricanes in setBeach. We sawonly a fewSooty and Bri- also a Category2 hurricaneat landfall, thepast, with records of SootyTern regularly dledTerns during the worstof the storm, thoughFran did not havethe Category5 stretchinginto the interior after storm alongwith one Band-rumpedStorm-Petrel historyof Isabeland wasa morecompact events,while displacedBridled Terns have (athigh altitude, remarkably). By late morn- stormwith an intact,well-defined eye at occurredprimarily along the coast. Docu- ingthe next day, however, as the storm's cen- landfall. Did timingwas different between mented records of Bridled in the North ter of circulation moved across western storms,with Fran makinglandfall during American interior are in fact few: three each Pennsylvaniaand localwinds had dropped the nightand Isabel during early afternoon. afterHugo of 1989,Diana of 1984,and Fran to under20 knots,the mouth of theBay was The seasonaltiming was alsodifferent, by of 1996in NorthCarolina, 2 in Virginiaafter alivewith pelagic birds (Table 3). Thispro- two weeks,perhaps as importantas the David of 1979, and one at Long Point, cessionof birdsheading back to the sea storm's strength in accountingfor its Ontario20 September1988 after the power- throughthe open channels(between the unusual constituency Wilson's Storm- ful Gilbert. (Others were moved into the artificialislands of the bridge-tunnel)con- Petrelsmove south along the Atlantic Coast ChesapeakeBay regionby Fran and by tinuedthroughout the late afternoon and the during fall and form largerafts along the Donna of 1960, and there is an anomalous followingday, enabling dozens of birdersto edgeof theGulf Stream and in itsinterior by recordof one "killedby boy with a tennis observe them from the islands. These birds mid-September.Most landfalling hurricanes racket"17 June 1932 in Orangeburg,South had presumablybeen scatteredacross the in the mid-Atlantic,including Fran, come Carolina.)All otherreports (over 50, total- wakeof thestorm and were reorienting and ashoreduring the late summeror earlier ing over100 birds)between 1960 and 2001 finallyfinding their way down various rivers September(Hugo, which madelandfall in are from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. In to ChesapeakeBay and ultimately the SouthCarolina 21 September1989, was so 2003, a Bridled Tern at Hamfin BeachState AtlanticOcean. Many groupsof observers devastatingthat there was little birding done Parkin upstateNew Yorkwas thus among in Virginia'sinterior also witnessedlarge alongits path it maywell havekilled thou- theleast expected of Isabel'sbirds. flightsof seabirds,especially terns, orienting sandsof storm-petrels,but there was no pos- AreSooty Terns over-reported after hurrL to the southeast,toward the ocean, and one sibilityof surveyingouter beaches in this canesbecause they are the "expected" inland observereven saw an adult tropicbirdfly case).The later timing of Isabelwould have hurricanespecies, that is, are some observers over 1-95 at Richmond,heading to the put very largenumbers of Wilson'sStorm- misidentifyingBridled Terns as Sooty Terns? southeast!Just how many of the storm-dis- Petrelsalmost directly in the pathof Isabel Given the advances in field identification placedbirds end up at suchconcentration just beforeit madelandfall. Observersalso techniquesin recentyears, this explanation pointsas the ChesapeakeBay mouth, how- foundremarkable numbers of Band-rumped seemsunlikely It hasbeen suggested by ever,is unknown. Were the birdsseen on 19 Storm-Petrels(at least18 in ChesapeakeBay, Brinkley(1999) thatdivergent wing-loading and 20 Septemberat the mouth of the 1 at CapeMay, 6-7 inland)assodated with and aspectratio, as well as generalnatural ChesapeakeBay simply birds that hadbeen the storm. This speciesis very rare in the historicaldifferences, might be responsible displacedinto the Bay itself, or did they NorthCarolina Gulf Stream after late August for the starkdifferences in inlanddispersal include birds that were carried far inland (BrianPatteson, unpubl. data), and the large of thesetwo species.The "results"of Isabel duringthe storm?Were the birdsseen 20 numbers associated with Hurricane Isabel appearto supportthis theory,as all Bridled Septemberdifferent individuals from those werea genuinesurprise. Storm totals such Terns(139+ total) savethe one in upstate of the 19th,with the firstday's birds having
NORTH AMERICAN BIRD alreadyfound their way back to the ocean? immediatelyfollowing landfall (most from fornia. Words used to describe this invasion Speculativeanswers to thesequestions may 1sabdwere from 19-20 September), presum- rangedfrom "unprecedented" to "the high- differ,depending on the speciesinvolved. ably when thosestill living have enough estnumber on record,"and it seemsthat this Manyof the birdsseen at the mouthof the energyto moveback to sea.There are many spedescould be seenfrom just aboutany Bayafter Isabel appeared to beresting during records of birds that remain on inland bod- coastalvantage on the PacificCoast during late afternoon,particularly Bridled Terns, ies of water after thesestorms, in somecases late Octoberand November. Exceptional andmany of thestorm-petrels were rafted in for severalweeks, and then presumably die countsof thisspecies throughout the period flocksat this time. Throughoutthe day, when their energiesare exhausted,as were:250+ off E1Socorro. Baja California 5 however,many birds were returning to the appearedto be the casewith Black-capped November;550 off PuntaBanda, Baja Cali- ocean: Black-cappedPetrels and Cory's Petrelsfollowing Fran. For this reason, fornia8 November;7000 at BoilerBay, Ore- Shearwaters could be seen at a distance especially,we shouldbe vigilantin our gon31 October;5000 off Seaside, Oregon 19 approachingthe channelsand moving efforts to document the effects of hurricanes November;and 800 offWestport, Washing- directlyout to sea. The behaviorof these upon seabirds:Black-capped Petrds, with ton6 November.Sadly, all regionsreported birds unambiguouslysuggested to those probablyfewer than 1000 breeding pairs, are a subsequentdie-off, with countlessnum- watchingthem that displaced seabirds capa- listedas "Endangered"by BirdLifeInterna- berswashing ashore on coastalbeaches and ble of movingback to properhabitat do so tional(Stattersfield and Capper2000), and offshoreislands. Analysis of beach-wrecked ratherquickly, and that thosetaken inland everyset of availableeyes is neededto mon- specimensshowed that the vastmajority of continueto headto the southeastuntil they itor theimpact of thesestorms on suchvul- these,at leastfrom centraland southern Cal- reachthe seavia oneof the largerbays, as nerablespecies. Hurricane Hugo, we should ifornia waters, were juveniles that had wasseen during Hurricane Bertha of 1996at bearin mind,appears to havereduced the starved to death. bothChesapeake and Delaware Bays. populationof BermudaPetrel, a Critically One must wonder how much such a Someother interesting hurricane-related Endangeredrelative of theBlack-capped, by large-scaledie-off impacts the overallpopu- questionsbeg to be answered.What propor- five percent(D. B. Wingate,unpubl. data). lationof thisspecies in the Pacific.With tionsof storm-blownbirds are actually seen Other gadflypetrels, such as the obscure numbersreported like thoseof fall2003, one and documentedduring these events? My Herald(Trinidade) Petrel (Figure 4), areso wonderstoo what proportionof the birds gut feelingis that only smallnumbers of little studied that their conservation status involvedin theincursion were juveniles. Of storm-relatedbirds are actually encountered and even taxonomic status is a matter of the ageclasses documented by specimens by birders.Given the huge area affected by guesswork.This taxon,which nests on a duringthe die-off, first-year birds predomi- thesestorms, and the fact that relatively few fewislands in theSouth Atlantic, may num- nated,which suggeststhat their survivor- birdersare able to get out after suchan ber no more than 2000 birds and is listed as shipwas very low. By earlyJanuary, how- event,it seemslikely that the great majority "Vulnerable"(Startersfield and Capper ever,the majorityof NorthernFulmars that of storm-birdsgoes unseen. A keyto under- 2000). I sawin southernCalifornia waters appeared standinghurricane's effects on seabirds(and to be oldernon-juveniles. One assumesin otherbirds) is [or birdersto spendtime at Pelagicheadliners most cases that adults and subadults are bet- their local patches(especially large and The southwardirruption of NorthernFul- ter preparedthan young, inexperienced for- medium-sizedbodies of water), rather than marsalong the PacificCoast provided coun- agersto withstandperiods of prey scarcity on the coast,as hundredsof birdersin fact terpointto the plightof pelagiescaught up (whichpresumably drive such "invasions"), did duringIsabel. Seeing seabirds in large in Isabel.Countless hundreds of thisspecies thoughit is probablyjust aslikely that the bays or at the coast is, by now, quite were reportedfrom far offshoreto just off [ulmarswere concentrated first by an abun- expected;but the factthat so manyspecies thebeach along almost 6000 km of coastline danceof preyand then affected by somedis- turnedup onrather small bodies of waterin fromWashington through central Baja Cali- easethat spreadrapidly becauseof their Pennsylvania(and a few in small towns'parking lots, as in Fran), suggeststhat only a fractionof such birds have been found in the past. Do themajority of storm-blown individualsactually successfully return to the sea? After birds are displaced a certain distance inland, the likelihood of their suc- cessful return to the ocean seems minimal,especially in the caseof the tubenoses. Records of Black- capped Petrels and Wilson's Storm-Petrelsseemingly "stuck" on the Great Lakes for weeks after the storm (and found deadin later days)seem to bearthis out. Some birdstaken perhaps a fewhundred miles inland might be able to returnto the oceanby following seaward-flowingriver systems, Figure 4. Thislight-morph Herald (Tdnldade) Petrel was found wall inland by Brian Patteson after the passage ofHurricane Isabel, surely, but most storm-blown onthe dam at KerrReservoir inMecklenburg County, Virginia 19 September 2003. It isshown here being prepared for release at birds are seen in the 48 hours theChesapeake BayBridge-Tuned byGrayson Pearce. PhotographbyEdwardS. Brinkley.
VOLUME 58 (2004) NUMBER 1 27 unusualconcentrations. Episodes of this involved. How this bird or these birds mingbirdin Georgia.California's fitst Mag- sortare not all thatunusual along the Pacific managedto makeit to the Pacificis a sub- nificentHummingbird found its way to Coastand probablyoccur at leastonce per ject almostbeyond the limitsof politespec- PacificBeach surely the first time this decade,though earlier die-offs have not been ulation;surely, they (or it) somehowmade specieshas beenrecorded in coastalstates aswell publicized(P Pyle,pets. comm.). In it across the Central American isthmus on theopposite sides of theNorth American the southernhemisphere, episodes of large- (recordsof the speciesfrom the western continent.Revetse-migrations of misori- scalemortality among tubenoses are rather Caribbeanappear to be increasing) ... entedbirds, or storm-sweptwaifs? Maybe a common around New Zealand and Aus- assistedby a tropicalstorm? (Far lessprob- little of both. Satellite transmittets are still tralia;combinations of preyscarcity, disease, ablefor thisspecies would be a trip around too heavyfor thesemites; their Big Picture andsustained periods of inclementweather Cape Horn.) No lessexceptional in the will haveto wait a bit longer. often cause "wrecks" of the more abundant shearwaterpandemonium of autumn was species.There is limitedNorth American the juxtaposition,within minutes,of the Acknowledõments literatureon thisphenomenon in tubenoses; final Cory's Shearwaterand a Streaked I wouldlike to thankPaul Lehman, along in the North Atlantic,most shearwater"die- Shearwater,possibly the fitst time that the with all the otherAssociate Editors, Techni- offs"appear to be associatedwith beealined two Calonectrisspecies have cornmingled. calReviewets, and the Editor of thisjournal, conditionsduring spring migration or prey Onlyin California! for readingthis essayon severaloccasions scarcityin summer,and there are a few Anothermost unexpected Atlantic-Pacific andmaking many useful suggestions for its known instances of shearwater "wrecks" nexus was documentation of four Little revision.I thankalso P. A. Buckley,Matshall duringhurricanes that stalljust offshore,as Shearwatets:one bird was nicely pho- Iliff, Peter Pyle, Steve Mlodinow,Steven with Dennis of 1999. Northern Fulmar's tographedin thefamiliar waters of Monterey Feldstein,Derek Lovitch,Richard Erickson, responseto cyclones(Manikowski 1971) Bay,California 29 October,and threewere LukeCole, Don Cecile,and George Armis- mayactually differ somewhat from Atlantic found in the previouslyunstudied ocean readfor close readings of themanuscript and shearwatets',a subjectworthy of study. waters south of Sable Island, Nova Scotia for informationand helpfuldiscussions on Thinkinghack through the fulmats'mortal- 23-24 September.There are but two prior the topicstreated in this essay.For clarifica- ity to those2-3 Cory'sShearwaters in land- recordsfor thisspecies from North America, tion of records,I extend thanksalso to Wal- lockedPennsylvania. one wonders why it is both from islands (5ullivan's Island, South ter Ellisonand Nancy Martin. that so few shearwatets were associated with Carolinain August1883 and SableIsland, Isabel--andwhy so few have been con- Nova Scotiain September1896), but no Literature cited nectedwith hurricaneshistorically Were convincingrecords of livebirds at sea,mak- Alstr6m,E, and K. Mild. 2003. Pipitsand the PennsylvaniaCory's the leastfit of their ing thediscovery of threein onearea all the wagtails. Princeton University Press, kind, alreadytoo weakto fight the storm? moreimpressive. Princeton,New Jersey. Or were theyamong the survivors,as hun- Vagrantpetrels also found their way into Brinkley,E.S. 1999. TheChanging Seasons: dredswere exhausted by thewinds and ulti- our watersthis fall. A gadflypetrel that low pressure.North American Birds 53: matelydied at sea?Are the hurricane-driven landedon a cruiseship near Maui was pho- 12-19. birdswe detect among the fittest, or theleast tographedand later identified through Inter- --.. in ms. The Storms of '96. Part 2. fit, of theirrespective species? Is the rather netdiscussion as a Stejneger'sPetrel, provid- Brinkley,E. S.,T. Hass,andJ. Lockyet. 1997. incredible heterogeneityof specieswe ing Hawaii with its secondrecord of this TheStorms of'96: Birds and Atlantic trop- observein hurricanessimilar to the great apparentlyrare wanderer; there are six ical cyclonesin an activeyear. Part 1. varietyof landbirdsseen in thoseMaritime records(seven birds) from California, plus a Field Notes 52: 819-829. "fallouts"in late autumn, or do the seabirds Texasspeci•nen, but no other reportsfrom BrinkleyE. S.,and P E. Lehman.2003. The justhave the misfortune to be in the wrong NorthAmerica. A long-rangepelagic out of ChangingSeasons: unabashed bonanza. placeduring landfall? Bird mortality, a fasci- San Diego provedfruitful in September, North American Birds 57: 14-21. natingsubject, is a truefrontier in ornithol- turning up California'ssecond Bulwer's Campbell,C. 2000. Possibleanywhere: ogy,especially for pelagicbirds, whose lives Petrel about 50 km south of San Clemente White-winged'Tern.Birding 32: 216-230. are only slowly becomingknown to us Islandon 4 September.These waters have CaliforniaBird RecordsCommittee [C. B. R. through long-term seabirdstudies from been rarely exploredin recentyears, and C.]. in ms. RareBirds of California. shipsand pioneering satellite-tracking stud- futuretrips to this areawell offshorehold Eckert,C., and H. Gr6nberg.2001. Thefall ies, which revealjourneys of unbelievable promise.In additionto the Bulwer'sPetrel, migration:Yukon region. North American distancesin the alhatrosses,for instance. a Red-tailedTropicbird was seen, along with Birds 55: 91-92. The Pacificpelagic frontier astonished a hostof Red-billedTropicbirds. Fussell,J.O., III, andA. Allen-Grimes.1980. observetsduring fall 2003no lessthan the Bird sightingsassociated with Hurricane Atlantic:it is remarkablehow many vagrant Andthe hummingbirds David. Chat 44: 89-100. pelagicspecies continue to be found in Aslittle as a dozenyears ago, the appearance Garrett,K. L., andJ.L. Dunn.1981. Birds of watersso regularlysurveyed. Who would of a Selasphorushummingbird in the East SouthernCaliforni•z' status and distribution. have dared predict Cory'sShearwater(s) wasoccasion for whatthe British might call Los Angeles Audubon Society, Los would be seen in California? The fitst was a "massivetwitch_" Today, birdets are find- Angeles,California. discoveredat CordellBank on 9 August, ing not only Selasphoruswith regularity Gilroy,J.J., and A.C. Lees. 2003 Vagrancy the- furnishingthe fitst recordfor the entire (includinga startlingproportion of Allen's) ories:are autumnvagrants really reverse PacificOcean. Remarkably,a Cory'swas but speciesfrom as far awayas Mexicoas migrants?British Birds 96: 427-438. subsequentlyfound off PointPinos 22-23 well. The Southeastmaintained its prideof Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1992. Note- August! Thereis someopinion that these placein the vagrant-hummingbirddepart- worthybird observationsfrom Baja Cali- sightingsrefer to the samebird; however, ment, but the envelopecontinues to be fornia, Mexico. Western Birds 23: given the massivenumber of shearwaters pushednorthward: North Carolina'sthird 153-163. presentin the areaat the time,it is impos- GreenViolet-ear was found this fall, as well --. 1995.A Guideto thebirds of Mexico sible to say that two birds were not as a remarkablethird MagnificentHum- and northern Central America. Oxford
28 NORTH AMERICAN BIRD UniversityPress, New York. BIRDERS' EXCHANGE NEEDS YOU! Kessel,B., and D. D. Gibson. 1978. Status anddistribution ofAlaska birds. Studies in Assist in bird conservation, research, AvianBiology, Number 1. and outreach in the Neotropics by Lee, C., and A. Birch. 2002. Notes of the donating your used but still functional distribution,vagrancy, and fieldidentifi- birding equipment to Birders' Exchange. cationof AmericanPipit and "Siberian We collectbinoculars, spotting scopes, neotropical f•ld guides,and backpacks Pipit."North American Birds 56: 388-398. for distributionto researchand educationorganizations in the Neotropics. Lehman,P E. in press.Fall bird migration We alsoaccept finandal contributions to support the program. at Gainbell,St. LawrenceIsland, Alaska. Pleasesend your donationsto: Birders'Excl•nge, American Birding Association, forthcoming,Western Birds. 720 WestMonument Street, PO Box 6599, Color•doSprings , CO 80934. --. 2003. First North American records of Willow Warbler,Lesser Whitethroat, and http:lla SpottedFlycatcher. North American Birds 57: 4-11. LeGrand,Jr., H. E. 1990. Birdsightings in the Carolinas associated with Hurricane Hugo.Chat 54: 73-78. Manikowski, S. 1971. The influence of meteorologicalfactors on the behaviour of sea-birds.Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia AviSys Version 5 16: 581-668. As SimpleAs YouWish ~ As PowerfulAs YouNeed McCaskie,G. 1990. The fall migration: SouthernPacific Coast region. American Seeour web site for greatnew features! Birds 44: 158. PalmSupport! Clements' 2003 Taxonomy! Subspecies Support! 1992.The fall migration:Southern PacificCoast region. AmericanBirds 44: New!Over 2,000Formal Places, Unlimited Locations! 142-153. TheLeader ~ Alwaysa GiantStep Ahead of AllThe Rest! McLaren,I., B. Maybank,K. Keddy,P D. AviSysis a full-featuredworldwide database and reporting system for serious bird- Taylor, and T. Fitzgerald. 2000. 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American Museum Youcan instantly reduce the on-screen list from a worldor NAlist to thechecklist of of NaturalHistory, New York. anynation, state, county, wildlife refuge, etc., whether provided by AviSysor cre- Portenko,L.A. 1989. Birdsof theChukchi atedby you. Dealwith only the birds you need. Rotatethrough modes instantly. Peninsulaand Wrangel Island. Volume 2. OneAviSys user wrote: "OUTSTANDING! I have been a computerprofessional forover 30 Washington,D.C. yearsand must congratulate you on generating state-of-the-art, convenient to use,effi- Pratt, H. D., P L. Bruner, and D. G. Berrett. cientand reliable software." Another says: "AVISYS IS A BLAST!"Precisely our objective. 1987. TheBirds of Hawaii and the tropical -• UnlimitedNumber of Lists:all major geographic lists automatically updated. Pacific. Princeton University Press, Example:assigning a sighting toyour yard also updates your City, County, State, Princeton,New Jersey. 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