If theAutumn report can be considered in rable since at least 1987, and parta litmus test of our observations about perhapsback to 1977," write Don nestingsuccesses and failures of , Robersonand company in California. thenthe news this year appears on balance First,the nestingseason appears to tobe good. If theremainder ofthe report is havebeen productive for High Arctic to considerrecords of migratory and espe- speciessuch as jaegers, Sabine's Gull, ciallyextralimital species, then the news Baird'sand Buff-breastedsandpipers, mustbe considered extraordinary. Ross' Goose, Pacific and Red-throated The year1983 is rememberedfondly loons--speciesalways welcome at local asthe start of the"Siberian Express," in birdingpatches in the interiorof the which Rustic Bunting, Siberian continentand all verywell-represented Rubythroat, Slaty-backedand later in the RegionalReports for 1996. Sec- Black-tailedgulls, focussed attention ond, a relativelywet summerseason acrossNorth America on thephenome- fromTexas (still in the throesof a long non of transcontinentalvagrants from drought)north to the prairieprovinces Changingnortheastern Asia. Those who bird the alsoappears to havesparked good repro- interiornow knowto lookfor Sharp- ductionin grebes,waterfowl, American tailedSandpiper in Septemberand the White Pelican, Franklin's Gull, and SeasonsAsian perdix form of MarbledMurrelet Sandhill Crane. in November and later at their local The migrationof theseand other patches,and indeed both put in appear- specieswas strong and for manymid- ancesthis . Perhaps 1996 will be continentmigrants showed a greater 1heFall Migration 1996 remembered as the "Rise of the South" Atlanticcoastal component than is typi- for the palpableshift in our thinking callyobserved, which may have to do EDWARD S. BRINKLEY aboutthe regularityof vagrantsfrom with the natureand timing of the cold thesouthern hemisphere. It was, in any fronts sweepingin from the Arctic, case,a seasonin which not only our especiallypronounced October 29-30, ownsouthern species strayed north, but followingthe mild fall in the Great a groupof truly Deep Southernersas Plainsand the West generally. The dates well:Great-winged and White-chinned of someeasterly Franklin's Gull reports petrels,Shy and Black-browed albatross- suggestthat this firstof manybrutal es, Kelp Gull, PiraticFlycatcher. The Great Plains cold fronts was behind this trenditself may not be new, but theway eastwardshift, alsonoted with Greater NorthAmerican birders prepare them- White-fronted Geese on the eastern selvesfor both terrestrialand pelagic seaboardto someextent, but the gulls' birdingis clearly changing rather rapidly numberswere clearly also augmented by toward a more global perspective. another"good" year on the nesting Nowhereis thismore apparent than in sloughs.In Alaska,following a mildlate birders'exchanges onthe Internet. summer,Tobish noted a sharpdemarca- In casesof vagrancy,the "convention- tion in the seasonalshift toward , al" wisdom,we arefinding, can be as with a "swiftand synchronousfreeze- mucha boobytrap as a boonfor field up," which clearly affectedcranes, identification. The identification of amongother species. These pat- Florida'sPiratic Flycatcher at theTortu- terns are not unusualfor the season,but gasin 1991as a Variegated,along with it is worthnoting likely correlations of previousNorth Americanrecords of birdmovement with weather systems. that speciesfrom Ontarioand Maine, A preludeto cranesand white peh- andpossibly Tennessee, no doubtinflu- cans,other BWBs (Big Wandering Birds) enced New Mexican birders, who first took to the skies in the late summer labeledtheir bird a Variegatedrather RoseateSpoonbill, Wood Stork, Brown thana Piratic.Some austral migrants we Pelican,and a fewAnhingas made head- knowwell, such as Fork-railed Flycatch- lines from Arizona east to Florida and er (fivethis fall), but others may still slip northto Coloradoand Maine. Though by:Are all lateGreat Crested and Ash- not quitethe identification challenge of throatedflycatchers checked for the the loonsand jaegers, this "southern smaller-billed nominate Brown-crested spice"was more than the continent's (or othersouthern Myiarchus flycatch- interiorhad seen in recentyears. Much ers)?Could Dark-billed Cuckoosfrom of suchpost-nesting dispersal indicates SouthAmerica be passedoff asBlack- nestingsuccess, especially with the billeds,as happened in February1986 waders;it is not clear,however, to what at a Texasbird rehabilitation facility? extentthe dispersal might also have been Severalfactors conspired to makethis drivenby dryconditions in Mexico. oneof the mostremarkable fall migra- Clearlyon thenegative side, dry con- tionsin manyyears--"the most memo- ditionsin partsof thecentral and west-

8 FIELDNOTES SPRINGI997 At BaldEagle State Park in the centerof Pennsylvania,hurricane Fran deposited this BlackSkimmer and numbers of LaughingGulls, including the twoseen here,September 7, 1996. Photograph/PaidW. Schwalbe. ern United States, severe in montane with thirteennamed tropical , swallows,Ruby-throated Humming- regions,stimulated a massexodus of and some did not fare well. Black- birds, and shorebirdswere observedin corvids,parids, finches, thrushes, and cappedPetrels, counted during the sum- rapidnorthbound flight within Fran by other passerinesinto the deserts,the meroff North Carolinain recordhigh birdersin North Carolinaand Virginia, coast,into cities, and even into the East. numbers(up to 363), foundthemselves all speciesnoted in Berthaand other Leadingthe listwere Clark's Nutcrack- in the pathof severalmajor hurricanes. hurricanes. It is believed that a ers, Pinyon Jays, Red-breasted Fran,a Category3 stormon the Saffir- Cypseloidesswift on Bermudain Octo- Nuthatches, Lawrence's Goldfinches, Simpsonscale as it struckcoastal North ber, as well as the possiblenominate Red Crossbills, Cassin's Finches, Carolinaon September6, droveat least (West Indian) Black Swift at Marthas EveningGrosbeaks, Mountain Chick- 52 into the interior, from North Caroli- Vineyard,were -displaced, thefor- adees, Golden-crowned Kinglets, na to Ontario, and alongwith them merby œili,the latter by Bertha. Townsend'sSolitaires, and Pine Siskins, nineother species of tubenose,Sabine's Theyear 1996 ranks as one of theten with smaller numbers of Blue and and Laughinggulls, phalaropes and mostactive ever recorded for tropical Steller'sjays, Western Scrub-Jays, Com- other shorebirds,Black Skimmer, and stormactivity in the North Atlantic. mon Ravens,Pygmy and White-breast- 12 speciesof tern,including 139 Sooty Thisyears five other categorized ed nuthatches,Black-capped Chick- Terns.For species that show both strong as"major," such as Edouard, Hortense, adees,and White-headed Woodpeckers. overlandand coastalcomponents in and œili, passedwell offshoreand The incredibleflight of AztecThrushes their migration,such as Caspianand undoubtedlyaffected seabirds, especially into Arizonamight alsorelate to dry Blackterns, the jaegers,and Sabine's mid-oceanforagers such as White-tailed conditions in mountain areas to the Gull, it will neverbe preciselyknown Tropicbirdand Sooty Tern, but there are south.The forestfires that ragedin the howmany were grounded while migrat- few dataon aviandisplacement from Westwill benefitwoodpeckers, but the ing over the interior and how many cyclonesthat do not make landfall. dry conditionsdid not bodewell for sweptback from the pelagic and littoral Most of the relevant data on seabird dis- later-season mountain nesters. All these zones,but an increasingbody of dataon placementfrom the Atlantic is foundin species,naturally, have evolved in the storm-displacementsuggests that terns, pastissues of AmericanBirds and Field contextof cyclicdroughts and fires. gulls,and shorebirdscaught over open Notes,and the excellentaccounts in the Atlanticseabirds, another group hit waterare entrainedin the eyeand the RegionalReports herein add consider- with foul luck in 1996, had to contend body of the storm. Chimney Swifts, ablyto thesedata.

VOLUME 51•NUMBER I FIELD NOTES As traumatic as hurricanes must be Loonsand grebes Alberta, Rudolf Koes cites an observa- for seabirds--and 28 dead Black- Loonsare all therage these days. To add tion of a juvenileWestern still riding on cappedPetrels in the interiormake the to Richard Rowlett's censusesfrom Cali- pop--on October6! Likewise,the Texas point--theyoffer easterners a genuinely forniain the springat PiedrasBlancas, editorsreport Earedswith chickson rareopportunity to studythe plumages the watchon CayugaLake, New York, August 24, "respondingto the fall of Gulf Stream seabirds from terra noted over 10,500 in its fourth and best ,"while early-stage juvenile Pied- firma, with a spottingscope and some season;at theAvalon seawatch on Cape billedswere observed in Septemberon leisure.Unlike in theWest, most pelag- May, New Jersey,a fantastic55,174 Ketili Creek, Alaska, and at three sites ic seabirds in the East do not traverse Red-throateds and 5078 Commons on Virginia'sEastern Shore--evidence thelittoral zone and so cannot typically were tallied in the 1996 season;and at of late localbreeding where considered be studied from shore. Indeed, there are Michigan'sWhitefish Point, 4474 Com- rare.Vagrant Westerns were carefully no recordsof gadflypetrels from shore mons and 490 Red-throateds. The value documentedat SandyRiver Reservoir, in the East outside the context of such of thesepoint countsis tremendousfor Virginia, and BrittonPond, Tennessee, storms(other than a nineteenth-centu- monitoringloon populationsin the arriving on November 20 and 23 ry NewYork record of MottledPetrel!). longterm; counters at CapeMay call (strongwestern with frozen To thosewho scannedLake Erie prof- for the institution of counts to the );both states have previous itably for Black-cappedPetrel, Sooty south, as far as Hatteras, to learn more Aechmophorusrecords (11 andsix), but Tern, and Wilson's Storm-Petrel,or the aboutwintering areas. Colorado, which only one, a Clark'sfrom Tennesseein largereservoirs of North Carolinaand boasted its 15th Yellow-billed Loon in March 1994, has been acceptedto Virginia for White-facedand Leach's 15 years,notes that they "areahnost specieslevel. In Quebec,where records storm-petrels,Herald, Fea's, .and Black- expectedin fall or winter" now. Ai of "swan-grebes"are in the sametaxo- cappedpetrels, Audubon's, Sooty, and caramba! Nebraska recorded its first Yel- nomic pickle, Bannonand David list Cory'sshearwaters, and many more low-billed, Kansasits second. singleprobable Western and Clark's but species,the experiencewas electrifying But it is the Pacific Loon that has maintain both records at the level of byall accounts. The coverageof interior beenstealing headlines, largely in the genus.The hybridsituation warrants areasby birdersduring the weekendof interior, for about a decadenow. A con- their restraint.Roberson, Bailey, and Fran and afterwardsurely outdid that centration of 100,000 off southern Singermeanwhile document the pres- for anyother storm, and the diversity SantaCruz County,California, boggles ence of 13,800 Western, 4,150 Clark's, and number of seabirds recorded in the the brain, even with Rowlett'scounts in and 29 Red-necked Grebes in the same interior of the continent outdoes the mind, but how about the inland SantaCruz Countyconcentration as the aftermathof David,Hugo, or anyother trekkers?Two in Texas and New York, 100-grandPacific Loons; hard to worry "birdstorm" on record.Brown Noddy, 23 in theMountain West, eight in New about hybridsin that bunch.Eared SouthPolar Skua, and the tropicbirds Mexico, four in Tennessee, three in Grebesmigrating in small numbers and boobieswere the onlyspecies not Minnesota, one in Maine, and one in alongthe Appalachiansappear to move recordedsomewhere during the storm. the "regular"site, Figure Eight Island, much earlier than Horneds: from the Aided in communicationby cellular North Carolina (a dozen eastern first at Batavia,New York, down to the phonesand computers,sightings could seaboardreports follow in the winter). sixat LakeLanier, Georgia, Eared con- be sharedamong thousands of people Ken Brock writes of the Middlewestern tinuesto increasein the Carolinas,in the within seconds, sometimes œrom the Prairies,"a phenomenalfall," "awash CentralSouthern Region, and in west- field.Wallace Coffey's "Hurricane-Net" with the rarer loons," with no fewer ernVirginia, which held an unheardof chatgroup on the Internetlinked hun- than 70 Red-throated and 10 Pacific, >21 on South Hoiston Reservoiralone. dredsof birdersand forgedcommon and observers in the southern Great strategiesamongst complete strangers Plains found Red-throateds more Tubenosesand Tropicbirds for searchingremote areas. As exciting numerous as well. Arizona netted its Thesetwo families provided a great deal as this kind of activitymight be, no twelfthRed-throated, the Appalachians of stir on all threepelagic fronts. From "lifer"is worth risking one's life, or that noted "more than usual" of the same, theR/VMcArthur, coursing through the of one'sfellows, in thehavoc of a strong and Hawaii had its third loon of any CentralPacific Gym, cameword from hurricane. Atlantic hurricanes killed kind, an Arctic/Pacificlike the previous Rowlett, Michael Force, and Todd Puss- 135 humans in 1996, and birders two.Are we merelybeing rewarded for er of a StreakedShearwater off Oregon's should heed the advice of local authori- keepingour eyesopen? Dan Svingen Heceta Bank, about 30 nautical miles ties in these storms. notesspecifically that Pacificsare "more (nm) offshore,on September13; of The restof this reportwill focuson regularand numerous in Idahoin recent twelverecorded, single Red-tailed Trop- speciesthat showedinteresting inter- falls," and this is echoed in Montana. icbirdson September28 andOctober Regional dynamics of one sort or Likemost such phenomena, it is likely a 10, 180-195 nm off centralCalifornia, another;several species were selected bit of both•greaterobserver vigilance plustwo or three240-260 nm off Ore- because of their status on the Partners stimulatedby an increasein records. gonSeptember 10-11, and three togeth- in FlightWatchList (see AFN 50: 238- Grebes fared well. Ron Martin notes er September29; and at leastsix Red- 240), whereasother species are relative- "successfulbreeding by mostwaterbirds" billedTropicbirds. Cook's Petrels were ly numerous.To makemore room for in the Northern Great Plains, with a seendaily August 8-14; amongthe > 150 the commonspecies--and in orderto highcount of 1200Western Grebes on were65 August14 36-60 nm off Cali- juxtaposeinternational and regional Lake Etta, North Dakota, while to the fornia on the Corteo Bank. Force and vagrantsin a democraticspirit--Table south,Gryzbowski writes that Westerns crewlocated a secondDark-rumped 1 isprovided as an indexto theRegion- far surpassed"expectations of even Petrel,after the July bird, 210 nm west al Reports.It is a feast. exponentialgrowth." At MedicineHat, of Point Arena,September 29, while

IO FIELD NOTES SPRING1997 ChrisHoetier on the DavidStarrJordan, Carolinaand Virginia, 11 in total, are "excellent numbers" in Arkansas,with far off southernOregon, saw another indeedidentifiable as the heavy-billed "oftenlarge proportions of immatures"-- one on the same date. Too late to make Pterodromaj•ae, properlycalled Fea's strayednorth to HammerCreek, Penn- the summerreport, Bob Pitmanand Petrel(pronounced FAY-ahz). A two-part sylvania,for the firstcounty record in SusanSmith identified yet another article on distribution and identification thiscentury, and two immaturestraded Dark-rumpedon July 31, 25 nm south- of this groupwill appearthis year in roostsacross the MississippiRiver from westof SanMiguel Island, along with a Birding.After the bannersummer of MadisonCounty, Illinois, to Missouri. Wedge-rumpedStorm-Petrel. 1995, tropicbirdsreturned to normal The species'reputation for long-distance Landlubbers who ventured out to sea numbers in the cold-water summer of flightswas upheld by Maine'sfirst in 74 on daytrips saw an equallyastonishing 1996 off North Carolina, but off the years,at CapeElizabeth. This continues a varietyof seabirds.Running a chasetrip Gulf Coast,an unprecedentednumber trend from fall 1995. for the Streaked Shearwater on October of Red-billedTropicbirds were noted Sandhill Cranes and American White 5, Oregonianssaw instead a nominate within 100 nm of South Pass,on Octo- Pelicans were out in force this fall on the Shy(White-capped) Albatross, a sublime ber 21, 27 and 28, with one White- East Coast. Bannon and David found Patagonia-effectif ever there was one. tailed on October 12. thefall staging of cranesto bevery well (Recallthat Rowlett'sCalifornia record of In the nearshoreAtlantic and Pacific, documentedin Quebecthis year, and thespring season was identified as Salvin's no majordeviations in tubenosepopula- surmisethat the "breeding population of Albatross,D.c. salvini•].California bird- tionswere reported, not surprisingin a the JamesBay Lowlandsis certainly ers,hot on the heelsof their first Parkin- yearwith no El Nifio, thoughHeceta increasing."Likewise Brock reports son'sPetrel, discovered a Great-winged Bank,off Oregon,held 10,000-12,000 Sandhills"doing well," peaking in Indi- Petrel,a northernhemisphere first to go Fork-tailedStorm-Petrels on August anaat Jasper-PulaskiWildlife Manage- withtheir Light-manded Sooty Albatross 29--a largebut very localized concentra- mentArea at 26,366. A pioneeringpair of 1995,as well as a Dark-rumpedPetrel tion-and 500 at the QueenCharlotte continuesto nestin westernPennsylva- offMonterey on August 24. (Unlikethe Islands made an even more localized nia. While four in the Maritimes were sootyalbatross, the petrels were not aired highcount for BritishColumbia. Pink- average,Paxton, Boyle, and Cutler detail on nationalnewscasts.) looted Sh'earwaterswere more numerous "more Sandhill Cranes than have ever In the Atlantic, RussellFraker, work- off Oregonas well thisyear. Northern crossed"the Hudson-DelawareRegion, lng on the Reliance,photographed the Fulmarswere in higher numbersoff at least26birds--including a flock of 17 hemisphere'ssecond White-chinned bothcoasts, a few early ones in Septem- at HookMountain hawk watch, the day Petreljust off OregonInlet, North Car- ber by CapesMay and Hatterasfore- of theBig Front October 29. olina. Fraker first located the bird on tellinghigh wintercounts. An anom- Coastalobservers with persistencefre- October12 andonly realized later what alousmass of verycold water settled into quentlysaw white pelicans on thesame It was;as the boat returnedto the vicini- the westernNorth Atlantic by mid- frontsas the cranes,and between24 and ty fivedays later, a chumslick was set, November,pushing great numbers of 43 gracedthe Hudson-Delaware Region, and the bird materialized.The pho- Black-leggedKittiwakes and later Great with up to 14 moving around the tographsshow a veryheavily built Pro- Skuassouth to Virginiaand North Car- Northeast. On severaloccasions, Vir- cellaria;field notes mention the entirely olina waters. It should be noted here giniaobservers noted cranes or pelicans palebill andwhite chin, both of which that tubenosetaxonomy continues to passingjust a few hoursafter their pas- referto P. aequinoctialis.Off South evolverapidly: Species such as Shy Alba- sageat CapeMay-•one groupeven con- Beach, Chatham, Massachusetts,an trossand Dark-rumped Petrel may see tinuingon to BodieIsland, North Car- immature Black-browed Albatross was theirallopatric populations divided into olina! "Good numbers" in the Southern observedfeeding with otherseabirds on multiplespecies in the future.Careful AtlanticRegion translates to a countof September21. This is perhapsthe fieldnotes are a mustwith out-of-range 60 pelicansat St.Mary's, Georgia, while fourthreliable sight record for that state, seabirds,asphotographs often do not tell 14 in WestVirginia at Leachtownwas a the ninth in the westernNorth Atlantic, thewhole story. finetally. Healthy numbers of whitepel- but to date, no one has ever pho- icans come from the Middlewestern tographedone. Oregon'ssecond firm Big WanderingBirds Prairie, 4700 from Iowa and severaleast Short-tailedAlbatross, and the seventh Psychologically,onemight say that these to Ohio,and from the legendary Ensley modern record for the West Coast, was birds keep us looking up. Roseate Bottoms,Tennessee, a high of 580. foundon November 9. In no otheryear Spoonbill.Where is sucha birdunwel- BrownPelicans, by contrast,are only have six albatross taxa been recorded in come?They appearto be doingwell on straysin the interior,and recordsare thishemisphere. the southern Atlantic coast,where Davis patchyfrom mostlandlocked states. Backeast, one Fea's and eight Herald reportsthem in "excellentnumbers" in Lone Brownswere in Colorado, Ohio, petrelsoff North Carolinacontinued to Brunswick,Georgia, and to thewest, in Iowa/Illinois, and Tennessee. confirmthose species' presence in the Arkansasand western Tennessee, reports Anhingas,following an uncanny "over- Gulf Stream.A Fea'sPetrel on August are "becomingregular" according to shoot" in theEast as far northas 10 wasstooped by a White-tailedTrop- Jackson.Texas had a recordfrom the Ithaca,New York, moved again in mid- icbird,an interestingat-sea observation Trans-Pecos,where rare, and Arizona September,with records from Town Hill, of tropicbirds' aggressivebehavior had another for 1996 at Lake Roosevelt; Maryland(10th), Greenwich, Connecti- towardsmall Pterodroma(see the West thespecies has appeared in thatstate in cut (14th), and WashingtonCounty, Indiesreport for moredirt on Phaethon). only in six previousyears. Maryland's Iowa (17th), the lattera statesecond, the It has become clearer from observations spoonbillcontinued at SmithIsland. firstcoming from 1953.Double-crested thisyear, and those back to 1992,that Wood Stork--in "staggeringand Cormorants continued their increase birdsobserved at closerange in North unprecedentednumbers" in Texasand in acrossthe East,while Neotropics in the

VOLUME 5I• NUMBER I FIELD NOTES II southerntier states were reported in larg- Great Lakes,an "outstanding"flight takestop honors,but a WanderingTat- er numbers and from more localities than producedabout 250. An eastwardshift tier at CalgarySeptember 3-5 wasalso ever before. This fall's most mobile in the species'usual mid-continent first-string. Neotropicsmade it to EnsleyBottoms, migrationseems plausible, given the AmericanAvocet, a local rarity in Tennessee,Douglas, Kansas, and Jackson consensusfrom New Englandto Geor- much of the easterninterior, was on the County,Illinois, in lateJuly and early gia and west to Minnesotathat the moveall overthe place. In northernAri- August.Scour those inland reservoirs and specieswas "up." Ricky Davis mentions, zona, 310 were on Mormon Lake with largerivers in mid-and late summer! among15 reports,a likelyregional high 125 Black-neckedStilts, while "unusual count of 20 from Macon, Georgia, numbers"were in Oregon.In the East, Shorebirds and Rails whileKen Brockfinds them "unusually the BombayHook, Delaware,flock "Grasspipers"are oftensingled out in widespread"this year in the Midwest, swelledto 560, whilethe largerSavan- RegionalReports in the autumn.Enig- the largestgroup being of 20 in Boone nahSpoil Site flock in Georgiacrested maticspecies such as Upland, Baird's, County,Illinois. In theMaritimes, "low to a record925, the largestgroup on Pectoral,Sharp-tailed, and Buff-breasted numbers" of Buff-breasteds were thiscoast, though probably augmented sandpipers,are studied with more leisure observed,and they were "absent again" by immigrantsfrom Delawareby this on theprotracted fall migrationthan in in the Pacific Northwest. time. In the interior, flocksof five to 13 the spring--theirtame habits, offbeat Upland Sandpiperoccasioned slim were found in all middlewestern states habitats,and golden and buff hues make comment. Bob Paxton and co-editors exceptMissouri, and still morerecords them speciesof perennialinterest for markthe "bestmigrant groups in mem- hailed from North (one) and South birdersthroughout the continent. ory,"with over77 in threelocations in (two) Carolina, the mountainsof Vir- A high count of 2000 Baird'snear New Jersey,and Georgiansconfirmed ginia (two-three), and Pennsylvania LakePakowki, Alberta, plus counts of thegood East Coast flight. New Mexico (eight). In Lousiana'sinterior, the 90-100 Buff-breastedsthere, suggested reportspoor counts of thespecies in the speciesis normallyscarce, but they were a goodbreeding season--although the southeasternpart of the state.Pectoral numerousthis season.New England lack of mentionof ageproportions in Sandpiperreceived similarly mixed hadsix, but the long-distancerwas one the RegionalReports limits speculation reviews. Van Truan and Brandon Percival at Saint Rest Marsh in New Brunswick. in this regard.The Texaseditors note felt them in higher numbersin the This continues a trend from fall 1995. "unprecedentednumbers of Baird's"as Mountain West, and Sartor Williams in Twospecies, Hudsonian Godwit and well, with a count of 372 at Fort Bliss. New Mexicoconcurs that they were Wilson'sPhalarope, appeared to be in Baird'swere "reportedfrom a wider "moreprevalent than usual." In Ensley lownumbers again in theEast this year. area"of Nevada,and in Utah,the high Bottoms,Tennessee, where Jeff Wilson Hudsonians,another High Arctic nester, countwas a respectable51. Arizonans hasamassed a significant body of data were down from the Midwest to Hud- recorded"unusually high" numbers. on shorebirdmigrants, numbers were son-Delaware,and south to the Caroli- New Brunswickwas alone among the down,as they were through most of the nas,though this maybe the effectof Marltimesin findinga "wellabove-aver- CentralSouthern Region. In New York highwater levels at coastalsites. For the age"total of 13 Baird's.From the upper and Delaware,"exceptional numbers" secondyear, Wilson's Phalaropes were Midwest, Baird'smade it to all six states, werenoted in September,but "anemic low,the soloMaritimes report prompt- withhigh counts of 13 fromIllinois, 10 numbers"were the rule in NewEngland. ing Mactavishto ask: "AreWilson's from Ohio, and eightfrom Kentucky. The species'preference for ephemeral Phalaropesbecoming rarer?" With The speciesoccasioned little comment habitatssuch as lightly floodedfields strongcounts coming from the southern from eitherside of the Appalachians; means that such discrepanciesin prairies,such as 1600 at CrescentLake, counts from western New York, western observers'impressions areoften the rule. Nebraska,one wonderswhether the dis- Pennsylvania,and western Virginia do Specieswith predominantly palearctic junctpopulation of Wilson'saround the appearto indicatea strongmigration in distribution were detected in numbers GreatLakes might not be thesource of Augustand September.A groupof 12 we now call "normal." The Siberian the problem.For the first time in 21 on the Conejohelaflats, Pennsylvania, counterpartto thePectoral, Sharp-tailed years,incredibly, no Bar-tailedGodwit followingFran provideda localhigh Sandpiper,came through with 17 West wasreported in the PacificNorthwest, count. In the interior of the Carolinas Coastreports, plus singleSeptember while one of the nominate race in Mass- and Georgia,peeps were in average juvenilesfrom San Antonio, Texas, Lake achusettswas the onlyEurasian shore- numbersexcept for Baird's,which posted Pakowki,Alberta, and a wildly early birdin theNew England Region at all. foursingles and a one-dayhigh count of birdfrom Carson Lake, Nevada, August In matters rallid, American Coots fivein Georgia. 18. Ruff migrationwas a bit abovepar, appearto be up, at leastin the mid- A Texas count of 120 Buff-breasted with 16 in California, four in the East, Atlantic,Appalachians, and eastern Lake Sandpipersat LakeTawakoni was good sixin thePacific Northwest, and singles Ontario, where numbers have never but not remarkablefor that state,while in Louisiana, Quebec, Alberta, and recoveredfrom the choleraepidemic of >200 wasthe highestSouthern Great NovaScotia. Curlew Sandpipers often the 1970s. Yellow Rails were detected in Plainscount, in WagonerCounty, Okla- slipunder birders' radar as Dunlin-like Kentuck,California, Maryland, and New homa. Quebecreported an "average juvenilesin thefall, but not at Calgary, Jerse,ybut not elsewhere.Two Purple fall." In the Gulf and Southern Atlantic with fouradults on September15! Sin- Gallinulescompleted suicide peregrina- states,however, the editors remark on gleswere in Virginia,Wisconsin, Michi- tionsto Canada-•one to•tang du Nord, "unprecedentednumbers" of Buff- gan,and at CapeBreton Island, Nova Quebec,October 20, theother to Fundy breasteds:Greg Jackson tallies no fewer Scotia.Genuinely rare shorebirds were National Park,New Brunswick,October than 346, with an Alabama-slammer few.Canada's second Wood Sandpiper 19 (bettertailwind), the formerthe 11th 153 at Gulf Shores In the Western on HerschelIsland, Yukon, August 9 provincialrecord, the latterabout the

FIELD NOTES SPRING t997 19th!Another one or twofrequented the evena few yearsago: Skeptics argued "Common Gull," continue to be rare North Shore of Massachusetts. againsttranscontinental vagrancy, even transientsin theinterior, but highnum- thoughship-assisted travel and escape bersof both were reportedthis fall. Gulls and Jaegers fromcaptivity were iraplausible for interi- Mew Gull vagrantscame from 10 west- Preliminaryanalysis by observersfamil- or and East Coast records. erly states(Montana, North Dakota, iar with the speciesappears to confirm Slaty-backedGull, documentednest- South Dakota, Idaho, Texas, Arizona, the identificationof a dark-backedgull ingin Alaskafor thefirst time in 1996, eastern California, Iowa, Minnesota, m Indianaas a Kelp Gull, a speciesof wasnot identified outside several typical and westernNew York) betweenOcto- the southernhemisphere recently con- sitesfor the speciesin that state,but ber 6 and November 30, all but two firmednesting on theYucatan and on records from Canada have continued to from November 10-30. All of these •slands off Lousiana. Texas has been the increase,and the Lower48 haswidely birds fit well with Tobish's statement onlyother state to recordthe species, scattered records from ten states. From that most Mews "have fled the but if the Indiana bird is confirmed, Hawai'i comesreport of a probable [Alaskan]interior by the firstweek" of thenwe are,nearly anywhere, confront- Asian-raceHerring Gull off Ni'ihau. October, "alwayswell in advanceof edwith the potential for vagrancy of yet Thiscomplex, which includes the "Vega freeze-up."The reportsof Common anotherfour-year-gull. Kelps are not an Gull"recorded in Alaska,is under study Gull were of a third-winter at Vaudreuil, •dentificationchallenge in range,but by Asianlarophiles (Hong Kong Bird Quebec,(the nineteenth Quebec record), the panoplyof nearctichybrids (Great Report1994: 127-156) and shouldbe three adults in Newfoundland, includ- Black-backedx Herring and Herringx consideredpotential vagrants across ing a returningbird bandedin Iceland LesserBlack-backed among others) and North America. in 1990,one at Martha'sVineyard, and an adultfrom Niagara Falls. One would think Common Gull a coastalvisitor, and indeed records stretch south to Severalfactors conspired tomake this North Carolina, but Common also moves down the St. Lawrence River to oneof the most remarkable fallmigrations Quebec and, it seems,to the eastern GreatLakes. It waslogical that the two wouldcross paths at Niagara,the most in manyyears "themost memorable scrutinizedgull patch on thecontinent. It is interestingthat of theeleven interi- autumnsince at least 1987, and perhaps or Mew reports,no onereported a first- winterbird, inasmuch as juvenile Mews back to 1977..." werenoted moving much earlier than usual in California, with one at the SantaYnez River mouth September 5, backcrosseswill complicatethe situation Othermuch-watched species showed and a single offshoreof Monterey for documentersof potentialvagrant signsof increaseout of range.California August5, amongothers. gulls.Likewise for Yellow-legged Gull, a Gulls,now regularin the Eastin very Franklin'sGulls, with betternesting speciesmaking its third appearancein small numbersat NiagaraFalls and seasonsin 1993 and 1994 than in 1995, Newfoundlandin 1996.Good English- CapeHatteras, were documented well appearedto havedone very well again; languagematerial on its subspecific in Maryland. theymoved east more than west in fall. •dentification is now available (British Sabine'sGull, a surebet onlyin the "Only three"were notedin southern Birds90: 25-62), but observersshould Pacificand Arctic and ever a prizein the California, but in Texasand the Central notethat Yellow-leggeds still appear to interiorand East, was perceived to bein SouthernRegion, new records were set be outnumbered in the mid-Atlantic low numbersin Quebecbut wayup with an "amazingcount" of 15,000on areasby LesserBlack-backed x Herring everywhereelse--throughout the East, GrangerLake, Texas, and with an "inva- Gulls,which may bear resemblance to Midwest, Great Plains, interior and off- sionof northernMississippi River reser- Yellow-legged. shore Pacific Northwest, Western Great voirs" in late October. The Southern A SilverGull in Pennsylvaniaappears Lakes,and New Mexico.Twenty inland GreatPlains region registered a count to be of the taxonLarus [n.] novaehollan- records in British Columbia were "more reminiscentof "old times," 85,000 or diae, alsoknown as "Red-billedGull." It than the previouscumulative interior more at Lincoln, Nebraska.In the East, typicallywinters in southernAustralia and fall total!"--"avirtual invasion!" Up to wherethe speciesis annualbut rare, NewZealand. Though not uncommon in 11 were associated with the landfall of North Carolina'seighth arrived at Lake zoocaptivity and probably correcdy listed hurricane Fran, and another 11 were AumanNovember 1, Virginia'seighth as an "exotic,"the recordshould be con- observedfrom First Encounter Beach, and ninthat Portsmouthand Hunting sideredcarefully, in lightof a 1947New Massachusetts,during a stormon Sep- Creek,while in areaswith manymore Yorkspecimen from the Genessee River tember19, followingthe passageof records,Franklin's put in appearancesin mouth,a femalewith an immatureovary Edouard. Some of this perceived Quebec,Pennsylvania, and Maryland. that wasapparently unlikely to have increase,again, surely comes from the Documentationof jaegermigration escapedfrom captivity (specimen #629, patientinvestigation of reservoirs during in the interiorwas thorough this year, RochesterMuseum). We shouldrecall the severeweather of varioussorts, but it is prudentin its conservatism,and full of intensedebates over the origin of Black- probablethat the nestingseason was superlatives:"the largest jaeger flight tailedGulls out of range(Rhode Island's productivefor Sabine's. since the mid-1950s" in the Midwest, summeringbird continued), which raged Mew Gull, and its nominate form "thebest jaeger flight of the 1990s"at

VOLUME 51, NUMBER I FIELD NOTES Derby Hill Bird Observatoryon Lake Clark's Nutcrackers were felt to be the southern Arizona, as well as in North Ontario.Though much of the action most extensive since 1972, from Texas Carolina,where records of thisformerly wasin the upperMidwest and around to the SanFrancisco Bay area, and the rarevisitor have become more regular in the Great Lakes, hurricane Fran and invasion'sadvance-guard even reached the 1990s.At Eastham,Massachusetts, a tropicalstorm Josephine stirred up the Louisianaby winter. Great White Heron continued from the jaegersas well. Reportedonshore: 418 Otherprobable outliers in thisexodus summer,a formwhose tendency to stray Parasitic,163 Pomafine, 50 Long-tailed, wereBand-tailed Pigeons out of range, northwardmay begin to parallelthat of and 136 unidentified,plus mention of followingthe summer'sMassachusetts ReddishEgret. Not exactlya southerner, 34 Long-tailedin theoffshore. Observer record,in Nebraska,Idaho, and Alberta; a Chinese Pond-Heron in alternate activitymay indeed be at an all-time a PinyonJay in Iowa;Pygmy Nuthatch plumagereached Alaskan shores from high,but thesenumbers may also indi- in North Dakota and Minnesota; and easternAsia to providea firstcontinen- catenesting success. Information in the Alabama's first Townsend's Solitaire tal record. RegionalReports concerning age com- October7 at FortMorgan, which pre- Twospecies that continue to bemon- positionof the largerflights would be sageda substantialinvasion in Michi- itored carefullyfor increasesin the necessaryto begin answering the ques- gan'sUpper Peninsula and much of the southeasternportion of the continent, tionof nestingsuccess. Midwest later in the fall and winter. Eurasian Collared-Dove and Shiny Cowbird, had distinctly different Montane movers Other Irruptors, Irregulars, Invaders reviews this season: Editors in the Gulf The readerwill simplyhave to consult Fromthe northcountry, after the ban- Coast, Florida, Texas,and the Southern thebrilliant reportage in theTexas, New ner yearof 1995, NorthernSaw-whet Atlanticall notethe continued prolifera- Mexico,Arizona, California, Oregon/ Owlswere not notedmoving in num- tionof thedove--"the invasion proceech Washington,Mountain West, Idaho/ bers, other than a token 70 at Tadous- unabatea•' notes Jackson (with prospec- western Montana, and Great Plains sac,Quebec, and >100 at Kiptopeke, tors north to Colorado, Tennessee, columnsfor the full flavorof thisvery Virginia,but 125 Boreals,a highnum- SouthDakota, Texas panhandle, Okla- widespreadbut locallyidiosyncratic ber, were also bandedat Tadoussac,and homa)--but the cowbirdwas reported "movement."The mix of•species varied therewere six records in NewEngland. onlyfrom Key West, from Huntington considerably among and within SnowyOwls stageda medium-sized Beach, South Carolina, and from Regions,but a few speciesstand out. flightto theEast Coast, two reaching as Bacon'sCastle, Virginia, the latter a Lawrence'sGoldfinch, in the Highest far asVirginia, and a hugeflight in the state-first.Noel Wamer in Floridaurges Priority categoryof the WatchList, Midwest, with over 66 birds, and the observersto continuesubmitting reports staged"one of [its] bestinvasions in PacificNorthwest, boasting the "best of this species.Finally, Groove-billed years"in Arizona; in New Mexico, invasion since 1973/74" in both the Ani had not irrupted northwardin whereunreported since 1991, over 150 United States and Canada. Northern about a decade and a half---one won- were documented.In Monterey and Shrikes,following the largestflight on dershow many aniswent undetected Santa Clara counties, California, the record in the East in 1995-1996, were between the North Carolina and Nova specieswas "unusually common" on the most notable for their absence south of Scotia birds! coast,with threereaching the FatalIons. winter strongholds,and likewisefor And in Texas,the volume of theflight BohemianWaxwing, Common Redpoll, œt cetera wasunmatched "since the early 1950s." and EveningGrosbeak in the East. Continuingtrends--such as the decline Red Crossbills were recorded out of HoaryRedpoll went unreported in the of Golden-wingedWarbler and North- "typical"range early in thesummer after Lower 48, not unusual in November, as ern Bobwhite in the Northeast, the nesting,and alreadyby June24, Chris theyoften begin to appearonly in mid- occurrencesof hummingbirdswildly Cotbenhad keyed out someof thebirds winter.The largestSnow Bunting flight out of range,and the steadyupward in the PointReyes, California, vicinity, in recentmemory put flocksof several trend in raptorsonce nearly lost to as"Type 2." Observerselsewhere in Cal- hundred as far south as Portsmouth, organochlorinepoisoning in theEast-- ifornia and in Texas and Arizona also ßVirginia, and a singleas far as Canaveral can be found with even a glance recorded this widespread form. National Seashore,Florida, where the throughthe reports that follow. As ever, Observerscapable of tape-recording speciesis rare.The thousandsof White- the readeris encouragedto seekout their local Redsoften did so, and it will wingedCrossbills present in Newfound- otherpatterns in thesepages. probablyonly be through audio record- landover the summerhad disappeared ingsand specimens that we will define by September:Where did theygo? And the shiftingdistributions of the various the >1200 PurpleFinches that passed taxa of this complex,though pho- CapeCharles? The specieshad virtually tographsand field sketches may be use- no Atlanticcoastal presence on Christ- ful aswell. After the scatteringof sum- mas Bird Counts in 1996/1997, certain- merreports (as far east as Marthas Vine- ly nonefrom Virginia southward. yard), the next wave of wanderers Numbers of southern herons were towardthe Eastwere singles noted in "aboutaverage" (Marltimes), "in short Ames,Iowa, at Hemdon,Virginia, and supply"(Prairie Provinces), and--espe- a flockof 25-30 in Erie County,Penn- ciallyin the casesof Great and Cattle sylvania--all August 5. Redswere Egrets--locally numerous(Arizona, reportedas widespread from all but the Minnesota, Northeast, Pacific North- Deep South,though one reachedthe west).Reddish Egret is worthmention LowerRio GrandeValley! Flights of in southern California, Nevada, and

14 FIELD NOTES SPRING1997 State/Province Records for the Fall 1996 Season*

Firsts Seconds Fourths Sevenths Yellow-billed Loon NE Yellow-billed Loon KS Red-throated Loon SD Black-cappedPetrel PA(& 8th) Shy(White-capped) Short-tailedAlbatross OR Black-browed Albatross MA Manx Shearwater TX Albatross OR Fea's(="Cape Verde Dark-rumpedPetrel CA ReddishEgret AZ StreakedShearwater OR Islands")Petrel VA Black-capped Black Vulture NS Cory'sShearwater PA Anhinga IA Petrel ON (to 25th!) MongolianPlover CA Great-wingedPetrel CA ReddishEgret NV Herald Petrel VA Sabine'sGull VA White-chinnedPetrel NC RoseateSpoonbill MD Brown Pelican TN Yellow-bellied ChinesePond Heron AK Black Scoter ID Black-bellied Flycatcher CA(& 8th) Tufted Duck KS PrairieFalcon ON Whistling-Duck KS CaveSwallow NJ CommonRinged Plover CA PomarineJaeger ND; SD Common Eider BC Brown Thrasher ID WoodSandpiper YU Long-tailedJaeger MD (& 3rd) Black Vulture WI Connecticut Warbler TX Sharp-tailedSandpiper NV LaughingGull OR Buff-breasted LesserGoldfinch SD GreatSkua NB'• Mew Gull MN Sandpiper HI (or5th) (8th & 9th also!) Great Black-backed Gull CO PomarineJaeger NV; ND LittleGull NE Ross'Gull DE SandwichTern NB Black-leggedKittiwake ID Eighths Violet-crowned Black-tailedGull SootyTern ON PacificLoon MT Hummingbird CA [returning] RI MarbledMurrelet CO Brant MT GrayKingbird ON Long-tailedJaeger AZ (& 9th) MewGull SD RufousHummingbird QU Eastern Wood-Pewee CA ArcticTern TX Ash-throatedFlycatcher CT Mew Gull AZ; ID Blue-grayGnatcatcher MB Franklin's Gull NC BridledTern DC Say'sPhoebe NF Townsend's Warbler MA MarbledMurrelet OH Yellow-belliedFlycatcher MT Short-tailed Hawk TX MacGillivray'sWarbler MA AncientMurrelet NV PinyonJay IA Painted Redstart n. CA Ninths Band-tailedPigeon QU;NE PygmyNuthatch ND Smith's EurasianCollared-Dove SD; CO CarolinaWren ND RedPhalarope MS Longspur CA(1st. S. CA) Groove-billedAni NC; NS? ArcticWarbler CA Black-headed Gull TX LittleBunting AK White-throatedSwift AB YellowWagtail BC Little Gull MS Great Black-backed Gull CO CalliopeHummingbird NJ Black-backedWagtail OR Fifths Black-chinned Black-throatedGreen Wilson's Plover ME Hummingbird NJ;SD Warbler NV Tenths Long-tailedJaeger ND Broad-tailed NorthernParula Warbler BC BrownBooby AZ Mew Gull IA Hummingbird AR Townsend'sWarbler GA LesserBlack-backed Gull AL Forster's Tern VT Broad-billed Pyrrhuloxia CO White-tailed Kite AL Hummingbird IL Northern Saw-whet Owl FL Dark-eyed(White-winged) Green-breasted Ash-throatedFlycatcher MT GreenViolet-ear MI;OK • Junco CA Northern Wheatear CA Yellow-belliedSapsucker MT LesserGoldfinch MT Mango TX (& U.S.) Red-breastedSapsucker TX Anna's Hummingbird CO (or6th) PiraticFlycatcher NM Thirds AcornWoodpecker CO * Some of the above records have DuskyFlycatcher NS, WI, RI Arctic/PacificLoon HI GrayKingbird ON notyet been vetted by state records committees,but mosthave been GreaterPewee NV Wilson'sStorm- Fork-tailed WesternWood-Pewee QU, WI Petrel ON (to5th) documentedbythe observers, FlycatcherQU; ON (to7th!) at least to the satisfactionof the Thick-billedKingbird NV Dark-rumpedPetrel CA VariedThrush FL (or 6th); LA CaveSwallow DE Red-billedTropicbird TX regionaleditors, who include them Black-backedWagtail n. CA asreports, not records, in their PygmyNuthatch MN TricoloredHeron n. CA Philadelphia seasonalsummaries. EyebrowedThrush BC Pink-lootedGoose QU Vireo MT (and6th) Townsend'sSolitaire AL AmericanOystercatcher ON Severalprevious records of NorthernWheatear AZ Long-tailedJaeger NM Sixths Catharactaand Crotophaga MountainBluebird NB Black-headedGull HI White-faced Storm-Petrel VA spp.here. WhiteWagtail LA MewGull MT Red-tailedTropicbird n. CA Wagtailsp. OH LesserBlack-backed Gull ND Brant AL Blue-wingedWarbler AB Yellow-leggedGull NF Yellow Rail KY SwainsonsWarbler ME White-wingedDove MI SpottedRedshank NS Black-throated Violet-crowned Mew Gull ND GrayWarbler QU Hummingbird TX Heermann's Gull NV ConnecticutWarbler NF Sulphur-bellied Middendorff's Great-tailedGrackle MS Flycatcher LA;n. CA Grasshopper- Yellow-headedBlackbird YU Hooded Warbler NF Warbler AK (or 7th) ShinyCowbird VA MourningWarbler NM Yellow-eyedJunco TX HouseSparrow YU LeConte's Sparrow NS Brewer'sSparrow IL HouseSparrow AK

VOLUME51, NUMBER I FIELDNOTES