F/rst North American Sighting of Brown , ( cristatus) and Dusky Warbler (Phylloscopus fuscatus), and second record of Red-throad Flyca. her (Ficedula pavva)

Ben King, Davis Finch, Richard Stallcupand Will Russell

HtEFOLLOWING SIGHTINGS weremade by not reaching the coast), to the mouth of the he authorswhile leading birding tours White River in Anadyr' Valley and upper near Gambell, St. Lawrence Island in the reaches of the River Achay-Vayam in northern Bering Sea in June 1977. Scientific Koratskaya Zemlya, and occurs sporadically nomenclature follows Vaurie (1959) and in Kamchatka (Dement'ev et al., 1968 and English names are those of King and Ivanov, 1976). We could not see any white Dickinson (1975). frontal band in the field. L. c. cristatus has a narrow inconspicuousfrontal band whereas Brown Shrike, Lanius cristatus. A single all three of the other races listed by Vaurie was observed on June 4, 5 and 6, 1977 (1959) have broad, more conspicuousones about 0.7 km east of Gambell. All observa- tions were within a radius of 300 m on level Dusky Warbler, Phylloscopusfuscatus gravel containing some grass up to 25 cm One was seen about 4 km south-southeastof high, and adjacent to a boulder-strewntun- Gambell on June 6, 1977by about 15 observ- dra-covered hillside. The bird choseexposed ers. We watched it for about 1« hours percheson knolls and boulders.It was quite through scopesand binocularsgenerally shy but well observed through several at a distance of 30 - 40 m, but several times 20x-40x spotting scopes at distances of as close as approximately7 - 8 m. It was 30 - 100 m by 27 observers.Its description on open tundra and preferred small hum- from notes made in the field, is as follows: mocks. Its description from notes made about 20 cm (8 in) in length; shrike-like in in the field, is as follows: small, approxi- appearance,shape and behavior;tail rather mately 12.5cm (about5 in); very active,with long; upperparts brown with a rusty tinge, quickmovements, continually on the move, the crown (but not nape) and tail rufous- constantlyflicking its wings;upperparts dark brown; black band through eye, separated duskybrown, without any trace of a wingbar, from crown by narrow white eyebrow; no inconspicuousbuffy eyebrow,barely visible white patch or spot in wing; throat and belly behindeye; dark eyeline;bill dark, the man- white; breast bright buff; flanks rusty buff. dible basallydull orange-yellow;underparts King has seen this bird commonly in eastern dhskywhite, with a faintgrayish or brownish and southern . wash on breast; sides and flanks browrash Comparison •)f our field notes with speci- buff; under tail coverts bright deep buff; tml mens in the American Museum of Natural cut straightacross (not notched)and slightly History suggeststhat our bird was most rounded on corners. likely Lanius cristatus cristatus, which Lack of wingbar, bright deep buff under breeds in northeastern Siberia (but usually tail coverts and slightly rounded taft

158 American , March 1978 ehminate all other Phylloscopus species, (Markov Village), Koryatskaya Zemlya except Radde's Warbler, P. schwarzi and (Achay-Vayam River) and Kamchatka Yellow-streaked Warbler, P. armandii. (Ivanov 1976). The details of the first North Radde's Warbler is larger with a "heavier" American record, a specimencollected in the look (thanDusky warbler),has a stouterbill; western Aleutians a few days earlier, will be has slightly paler, warmer-brownupperparts published separately. w•th an olive tinge; has longer,broader, paler The weather for several days preceding eyebrow that is especially conspicuous these finds was cloudy, rainy and foggy w•th behind the eye; has cinnamon tinge to buffy the wind out of the north. Late on the under tail coverts. The Yellow-streaked evening of June 3 or early on the morning of Warbler (which has not occurredin Siberia) June 4, the wind shifted to southwest and •s closeenough to Radde's Warbler to be dis- varied to south-southwest on June 4 - 6. t•nguishedfrom Dusky by the same field These days were mostly clear and sunny, marks. King has seen both Dusky and with the cliffs of the ChukotskiyPeninsula of Radde's Warblers frequently in Southeast Siberia 40 miles distant, clearly visible. Most As•a, and during recent field work near of the rarer Siberian species seen on St Bangkoknoted the constantwing flickingof Lawrence I., in the full week there appeared P. fuscatus. Bill color of the Gambellbird these three days. A 6 a.m. check June 4 of was consistent with a series collected in the area where the Brown Shrike was later Thailand from 1964 to 1967. The species found showed little change from a 10 p.m breeds in Siberia as close to St. Lawrence check the previous night. However at about Island as lower Anadyr', KoryatskayaZemlya 10 a.m., a Temminck's Stint, Calidrts and northern Kamchatka (Ivanov, 1976). temminckii, Dusky Thrush, Turdusnaumannt eunornus and two Gray-tailed Tattlers, Red-throated Flycatcher, Ficedula parva. Tringa brevipes, were seen in a boneyard A male was observed approximately 3 km close to Gambell. Boneyards are areas m southeast of Gambell on June 5. It was on a which eskimos have traditionally left boulder-strewn tundra hillside, partially bones and which contain many small pools covered with snow, which dippedinto a large surroundedpartially by short vegetation, the frozen lake. When first seen it was perched result of recent excavations for artifacts atop a large boulder at lakeside. It kept to These birds had not been presentas recently exposed perches on boulders. About 20 as two hours earlier. Moving east to another observers watched it for 2 hours at rangesof boneyard,a Bluethroatand the Brown Shrike 5 - 50 m with spottingscopes and binoculars. were found, neither of which had been present Its description from notes taken in the field, earlier that day. is as follows: small, approximately 12.5 cm We were on St. Lawrence from June 1 - 7 (about 5 in); perching posture more nearly and checked several areas near Gambell 3 - 6 horizontal than vertical (at perhaps a 30ø times per day. There seemed to be little angle), with the tail usually cocked, and often change between the late evening check (8-11 being flicked up and down; upperpartsgray- p.m.) and the early morning check (6 a.m ) brown;tail black,the whitebases of theouter the following day. Rather, most new birds pmrs of tail feathers conspicuousin flight; appeared during the day. Occasional clearly throat orange-rufous,surrounded by grayish migrating birds were noted comingfrom the cheeks and breast; remaining underparts west and southwest across the Bering Sea at white with brownish buff flanks. Finch took a all hours of the day. These observations seriesof photographs,which in the aggregate would seem to indicate that a major portion confirm the identification. Finch heard the bird of springmigration in this area is carried out singinga songsuggestive of thatof a Lincoln's by day rather than during the short and not- Sparrow. There is no other Asian species so-dark night. It is interesting that such w•th which the Red-throated Flycatcher can typical Siberian birds as are mentioned be confused. King has observed this species above should be flying onto St. Lawrence frequently in southern Asia. It breeds as far Island on a clear day. With the exceptionof northeast in Siberia as upper Anadyr' the Bluethroat,none of thesebirds hasbeen

Volume 32, Number 2 159 known to nest in Alaska. The winds, while Many thanks are due to Vernon, Beda and favorable for flying northeast, did not seem Tim Slwooko for their exuberant hospitality severe enough to force birds off course. at Gambell. Marion Steeves graciously Other Siberian species seen from June 4-6 translated the relevant portions of Ivanov were' several Bean Geese, Anser œabalis, (1976). Stewart Holohan assistedin several two Mongolian Plovers, Charadrius mongo- ways with the manuscript. lus, several Rufous-necked Stints, Calidris BIBLIOGRAPHY ruficollis, three breeding plumaged Ruffs, several Wood Sandpipers,Tringa glareola, American Ornithologists' Union. 1957. Check-list one Common Sandpiper, Tringa hypoleucos, of North American Birds. Amer. Ornithol. Union a Gray Wagtail, Motacilla cinerea,on June6, Dement'ev, G.P., N.A. Gladkov et al. 1954. Birds one Olive Tree-Pipit, Antbus hodgsoni, on of the Soviet Union. (Trans. from Russian in June 6, 18 CommonRosefinches, Carpodacus 1968 by Israel Program for Scientific Transla- tions, Jerusalem). Vol. VI. erythrinus, on June 6 (!) following a steady Ivanov, A.I. 1976.Katalog ptits SovetskogoSoyuza bmld-up from one female on June 1 to 11 (Checklist of Birds of the Soviet Union). Lenin- females and 7 males on June 6. grad, "Nauka." 276 pp. (In Russia.) King, B.F., and E.C. Dickinson. 1975. A FieM Other observers who saw one or more of Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia; Cover- the three new species reported here were: ing Burma, Malaya, Thailand, Cambodia, Viet- nam, Laos and Hong Kong. Collins, London. Ebbe Banstorp,Joe Burgiel, Shirley Doole, Vaurie, C. 1959. The Birds of the PalearcticFauna, Elinor Elder, Dr. and Mrs. Nicholas Greene, A Systematic Reference; Order Passeriformes Alexander Griesman, Raymond Hannikman, Witherby, London. ThomasHeatley, DouglasKraus, Dell Lacy, --Ben King, c/o Ornithology Dept , Thomas LePage, Roy and Martha Lound, American Museum of Natural History, New ThompsonMarsh, Seneand Edwin McKnight, York,N.Y. 10024;Da•)is Finch, SouthRoad, Cortland Myers, Larry Peavler, Jack Ross, EastKingston, N.H. 03827;Richard Stallcup, Arnold Small, David Smith, Shumway Surfel, 4409 44th A•)e., Sacrametlto, Calif. 95824, and Helen Wallace. Will Russell, Seal Harbor, Me. 04675.

American Birds Eighth Salon of Photography deadline is July 15, 1978

Once againAmerican Birds will publish(if lished, if it is possible to frame the photo- budgetary considerationspermit) a competi- graph in the dimensionsof the AmericanBirds tive salon of bird photographsby its readers. cover. Each contestant will be limited to six Modest first, second, and third prizes as well entriesin eachcategory; entries will bejudged as honorable mentions will be awarded in on the basis of technical excellence, artistic two categories: color and black-and-white. merit, and difficulty. Please identify each Color submissions may be in the form of print or transparencywith name andaddress, transparenciesor prints, Deadlinefor accept- and furnish a stamped envelope. Winners ance will be July 15. First prize for color will only will be asked later to supplybiographi- be honored by being publishedas the front cal briefs and exposure data on winning cover of the issue in which the salon is pub- photographs.

160 American B•rds, March 1978