Photographic docu entation of PhiladelphiaVireo on Aruba

Field encounter Swarovski 10x40 EL binoculars. The bird While surveyingbirds at SpanishLagoon, wasnot relocatedduring subsequent vis- JeffreyV. Wells Aruba(formerly Netherlands Antilles) on its to œnesite on i5 and 16january 2002. AllisonM. ChildsWells 13 january 2002, we located a Philadel- Identification phia Vireo (Vireophiladelphicus) in œne CornellLaboratory ofOrnithology short scrubvegetation along the north- In North America,plumages of Philadel- westernside of the SpanishLagoon inlet. phia Vireo are typicallycontrasted with 159Sapsucker Woods I•oad The bird respondedto "pishing"sounds similar plumagesof TennesseeWarbler and flew in, giving typical vireo nasal (Vermivoraperegrina) and Warbling Vireo Ithaca,New York 14850 scoldingcalls. Thebird remained in sight (V. gilvus),its dosestlook-alikes (Kauf- for approximatelyi0-15 minutes as it man 1990).The Aruba bird's stocky build ([email protected] moved about in the scrub, sometimes as andrather blunt and thick bill readilydis- dose as five meters. Characteristic fea- tinguishedit from all Vermivoraand other [email protected]) turesrecorded in the field includedtypi- typical warblers, and the bird's nasal, cal vireobill, graycap, uniform yellow wh'mingcall noteswere in strikingcon- underparts, and dark lores. Given the trastto the high-pitched,short call notes brightnessand extent of yellow on the of TennesseeWarbler (Dunn and Garrett occurredas a vagrantto Jamaica(Raffaele underpartsof thisbird, we suspectit was 1997). et al. 1998), and it is'a potentialvagrant a bird in its first winter. While migratoryWarbling Vireos from to the southern Caribbean Basin. The We were able to captureseveral photo- North Americanoccur only rarelyas far Arubabird showedthe stronglemon-yd- graphsthat showthe identifyingfeatures southas Costa Rica (Ridgely and Gwynne low cast acrossthe entire underparts-- of PhiladelphiaVireo (FiguresI and 2) 1989,Stiles and Skutch 1989), the species includingthe central upper breastand using an OlympusD-460 digital camera occurs as a rare fall transient in Cuba lower part of the throat--that is charac- through the objective of a pair of Garridoand I(irkconnell 2000) andhas terNtic of PhiladelphiaVireo, especially

FiguresI and 2. Twoviews of a PhiladelphiaVireoat Spanish Lagoon, Aruba, 13January 2002. Photographs byJeffrey V.Wells.

562 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS fall immatures (Kaufman t990). Th•s fea- theneighboring island of Curacao(Wells Jersey ture is distinctly different from the and ChildsWells 2001). The ageof the Ridgely,R.S., and G. Tudor. 1989. The whitish breast and yellowish flanks Arubaindividual, very probably in its first Birdsof SouthAmerica. Volume 1. Uni- shownby nominate-raceWarbling Vireos year,fits well with the patternof passer- versityof TexasPress, Austin, Texas. (Kaufman1990), aswell asdiffering from ine vagrancy,which is most prevalentin Rodnet, C., M. Lentino, and R. Restall. the whitish or buffy-whitishunderparts birds on their first migration (e.g., Veil 2000. Checklistof the birdsof northern of individuals of the "swainsonii" sub- 2000). South America. Yale University Press, species group (Voelker and Rohwer As islands are known to be migrant New Haven, Connecticut. 1998). In addition, the Aruba individual traps,it is perhapsalso not completely Sibley,D.A. 2000. TheSibley guide to birds. showed obvious dark lores, which are surprisingthat we havefound the species Knopf, New York. usuallylacking or are reducedand paler twicein two yearsin the "ABCIslands," Stiles, EG., and A.E Skutch. 1989. A in WarblingVireo (Kaufman1990). The despitethe paucity of recordsfrom main- Guideto the birdsof CostaRica. Cornell bird's more round-headed appearance, land South America. The island of Aruba UniversityPress, Ithaca, New York. which can be seen in the accompanying lies some 30 km from the Paraguana Veit, R.R. 2000. Vagrantsas the expand- photographs,is also consistentwith Peninsula of northwestern Venezuela, ing fringe of a growingpopulation. PhiladelphiaVireo and standsin contrast leadingus to speculatethat Philadelphia Auk 117: 242-246. to the flat-headedappearance of Warbling Vireo is likely to occurat leastoccasion- Voelker, G., and S. Rohwer. 1998. Con- Vireo (Kaufman 1990). ally in coastalregions of Venezuela. trastsin schedulingof molt andmigra- The onlyremaining species with which tion in Easternand WesternWarbling- PhiladelphiaVireo could potentiallybe Acknowledgements Vireos. Auk 115: 142-155. confusedis Brown-cappedVireo (V. leu- We extend our grateful thanks to the Voous,K.H. 1983. Birdsof the Nether- cophrys),resident in Centraland South IthacaAgeless Jazz Band of Ithaca,New lands Antilles. de Walburg, Utrecht, America, which occurs in the coastal York for the opportunity to visit the Netherlands. mountains of Venezuela (Ridgely and islandrepeatedly as members of theband, Wells, J.V., and A.M. Childs Wells. 2001. Tudor 1989) but which is presumablyan and the Divi TamarijnResort, Aruba, for First sightrecord of PhiladelphiaVireo unlikelyvagrant to offshoreislands, given its generoushospitality during our stay (Vireo philadelphicus)for Curacao, its sedentarynature. The Brown-capped on the island. Netherlands Antilles, with notes on Vireo,like theWarbling Vireo w•th which other migrant songbirds.El Pitirre 14: it has been lumped by some authors, Literaturecited 59-60. • showsa whitishthroat and chestwith pale AmericanOrnithologists' Union [A. O. yellow restricted to lower underparts U.] 1998. Check-listoJ North American (Ridgelyand Tudor 1989). Brown-capped birds. Seventh edition. American Vireoalso lacks the obvious dark eyestripe Ornithologists'Union, Washington, (Howell and Webb 1995) and has a more D.C. Remote. Wild. Unbelievable fiat-headedappearance--all characteris- Beaman,M., and S. Madge. 1998. Hand- tics that distinguishedit from the Aruba bookof birdidentification for Europeand ßHome to 1,000,000 Fur Seals ßSpectacular Seabird Colonies the Western Palearctic. Princeton Uni- bird. While it may be somewhatdifficult -Arctic Fox and Reindeer to seein the photographs,the bird also versity Press,Princeton, New Jersey. -Brilliant Showcase of Wildflowers had the grayishcap of PhiladelphiaVireo Dunn,J.L., and K.L. Garrett. 1997. A Field -Historic Russian Church rather than a brown cap, as in Brown- guideto thewarblers of NorthAmerica. ßNative Aleut Culture cappedVireo (HilLy and Brown 1986). HoughtonMifflin, Boston. Garrido, O.H., and A. Kirkconnell. 2000. Discussion Fieldguide to thebirds of Cuba.Cornell Philadelphia Vireo regularly winters UniversityPress, Ithaca, New York. from southern Mexico south to western Hilty, S.L. 2003. Birdsof Venezuela.Sec- Panama (A.O.U. 1998, Ridgely and ond edition. Princeton University Gwynne 1989). Ire species has Press,Princeton, New Jersey. occurredrarely during the nonbreeding Hihy, S. L., and W. L. Brown. 1986. A season in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Guideto the birdsof Colombia.Prince- CaymanIslands, and Antigua (Rafiaele ton University Press, Princeton, New ST. PAUL ISLAND et al. 1998). There are three records Jersey. TOM R from Colombia (Ridgely and Tudor Howell, S.N.G., and S. Webb. 1995. A Alaska's Pribilofs 1989), but none from neighboring Guideto thebirds q[ Mexicoand northern 1-877-424-5637 Venezuela (HilLy 2003) or from any Central America. Oxford University www. alaskabirding.com other South American country (Rodner Press,Oxford. et al. 2000, Ridgely and Tudor 1989). Kaufman, K. 1990. Advancedbirding. The speciesshows up annually as a HoughtonMifflin, Boston. vagrantin westernNorth America(Sib- Raffaele,H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. ley 2000) and has a minor record of Keith, andJ. Raffaele.1998. A Guideto vagrancy to western Europe as well the birdsof the West Indies.Princeton (Beamanand Madge 1998). University Press, Princeton, New Jer- These photographsprovide the first sey. photographicdocumentation of Philadel- Ridgely,R. S., andJ.A. Gwynne,Jr. 1989. phia Vireo for Aruba: additionally,we A Guideto the birdsof Panama.Prince- havea sightrecord from April 2000 from ton University Press, Princeton, New

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