New Species Accepted –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Swinhoe’S Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma Monorhis )
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his is the 20th published report of the ABA Checklist Committee (hereafter, TCLC), covering the period July 2008– July 2009. There were no changes to commit - tee membership since our previous report (Pranty et al. 2008). Kevin Zimmer has been elected to serve his second term (to expire at the end of 2012), and Bill Pranty has been reelected to serve as Chair for a fourth year. During the preceding 13 months, the CLC final - ized votes on five species. Four species were accepted and added to the ABA Checklist , while one species was removed. The number of accepted species on the ABA Checklist is increased to 960. In January 2009, the seventh edition of the ABA Checklist (Pranty et al. 2009) was published. Each species is numbered from 1 (Black-bellied Whistling-Duck) to 957 (Eurasian Tree Sparrow); ancillary numbers will be inserted for all new species, and these numbers will be included in our annual reports. Production of the seventh edi - tion of the ABA Checklist occupied much of Pranty’s and Dunn’s time during the period, and this com - mitment helps to explain the relative paucity of votes during 2008–2009 compared to our other recent an - nual reports. New Species Accepted –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma monorhis ). ABA CLC Record #2009-02. One individual, thought to be a juvenile in slightly worn plumage, in the At - lantic Ocean at 3 4°5 7’ N, 7 5°0 5’ W, approximately 65 kilometers east-southeast of Hatteras Inlet, Cape Hat - teras, North Carolina on 2 June 2008. Discovered and well-photographed by J. Brian Patteson, Steve N. G. Howell, and others on an organized pelagic trip (Pat - teson et al. 2009). Accepted unanimously by the CLC. The Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrel breeds in the western Pacific Ocean, primarily on islands off Japan, and 38 BIRDING • NOVEMBER 2009 ranges during the non-breeding season to 2009). Accepted unanimously by the Texas Bill Pranty the Indian Ocean, with nearly annual reports Bird Records Committee and by the CLC. recently in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean The chilensis subspecies of White-crested 8515 Village Mill Row (Patteson et al. 2009). Questions remain Elaenia breeds in the southern two-thirds Bayonet Point, Florida 34667 about whether there may be a breeding pop - of Chile and Argentina and is a long-distant ulation in the Atlantic. Howell and Patteson migrant to its wintering grounds, primarily (2008) provide identification criteria for sep - in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, but with Jon L. Dunn arating Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrel from other scattered reports over a wide region of cen - R.R. 2, Box 52R dark-rumped storm-petrels. The CLC re - tral and southern South America. Vagrants jected a previous report (#2002-06) of Swin - have appeared in Colombia, the Falkland Bishop, California 93514 hoe’s Storm-Petrel off North Carolina on 8 Islands, and the Drake Passage between August 1998 (O’Brien et al. 1999) because South America and Antarctica (Reid and the photographs submitted were of insuffi - Jones 2009). Steven C. Heinl cient quality to rule out a dark-rumped White-crested Elaenia (554.1) is placed P.O. Box 23101 Leach’s Storm-Petrel (Robbins et al. 2003); on the ABA Checklist as a Code 5 species this record was likewise rejected by the AOU provisionally between Greenish Elaenia Ketchikan, Alaska 99901 (2000) but was accepted by the North Car - (554) and Tufted Flycatcher (556), pending olina Bird Records Committee (LeGrand et acceptance and placement by the AOU. al. 2001). The record of a Swinhoe’s Storm- Note that Caribbean Elaenia (555) has Andrew W. Kratter Petrel off Alaska on 5 August 2003 been removed from the Checklist Florida Museum of Natural History was added to the unsubstantiated (see next page). list by the Alaska Checklist Com - P.O. Box 117800 mittee (D. D. Gibson, personal Crowned Slaty-Flycatcher University of Florida communication). Flood (2009) (Empidonomus aurantioatro - discusses reports of dark- cristatus ). ABA CLC Record Gainesville, Florida 32611 rumped storm-petrels in the east - #2009-03. One adult male pho - ern Atlantic and concludes that tographed alive and then col - Paul E. Lehman most or all pertain to this species. lected at Peveto Beach Woods, Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrel (146.1) is placed Cameron Parish, Louisiana on 3 June 2008. 11192 Portobelo Drive on the ABA Checklist as a Code 5 species The bird was observed alive solely by Paul San Diego, California 92124 provisionally between Band-rumped Conover and Buford Myers (Conover and Storm-Petrel (146) and Wedge-rumped Myers 2009). Identified by its size (equiva - Storm-Petrel (147), pending acceptance lent to an Eastern Phoebe); pale gray face Mark W. Lockwood and placement by the AOU. and underparts with a yellowish tinge to the vent and undertail coverts; gray-brown 402 East Harriet Avenue White-crested Elaenia (Elaenia albiceps ). back and wing coverts; blackish lores, eye Alpine, Texas 79830 ABA CLC Record #2008-10. One calling in - patch, and auriculars separated from the dividual at South Padre Island, Texas on 9– blackish crown by a gray supercilium; and 10 February 2008. Found by Daniel Jones blackish soft parts. The specimen, prepared Bruce Mactavish and observed, photographed, and audio- as a study skin (LSUMNS #180361 at recorded by Martin Reid and several others Louisiana State University Museum of Nat - 37 Waterford Bridge Road (Reid and Jones 2009). Identified as an ural Science), was heavily worn with no St. John’s, Newfoundland A1E IC5 Elaenia by its crest and conspicuous white molt, and had accumulated heavy fat de - coronal patch, identified to species by posits. Accepted unanimously by the plumage and vocalizations, and identified Louisiana Bird Records Committee (Ditt- Kevin J. Zimmer as the migratory subspecies E. a. chilensis by mann 2008) and by the CLC. 1665 Garcia vocalizations and photographic analysis of The Crowned Slaty-Flycatcher breeds plumage and wing formula (Reid and Jones from Bolivia to Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Atascadero, California 93422 WWW.ABA.ORG 39 ABA CHECKLIST REPORT western Mexico, by voice, barring on wing coverts, and pale (rather than buffy) underparts (Howell and Webb 1995). Ac - 3 cepted unanimously by the Arizona Birds Committee 3 and by the CLC. A second Sinaloa Wren was present at Fort Huachuca, Arizona 14–18 April 2009. The Sinaloa Wren is endemic to the Pacific slope of Mexico, resident from Sonora to western Oaxaca (How - ell and Webb 1995). It may be expanding its range, as it now breeds north to at least Santo Domingo, about 110 kilometers south of the U.S. border (Russell and Monson 1998). It is found in thickets in thornscrub and tropical deciduous forest, particularly areas with large emergent trees, and in arroyo banks and adjacent lower slopes where undergrowth is prevalent. Sinaloa Wren (677.1) is placed on the ABA Checklist as a Code 5 species between Canyon Wren (677) and After rejecting a previous record off North Carolina because the photo - Carolina Wren (678). graphs were of marginal quality, the ABA Checklist Committee unanimously accepted Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrel based on this well-photographed indi - vidual, shown here flanked by Wilson’s Storm-Petrels. Records off the U.S. Species Removed Eastern Seaboard follow numerous records from the eastern Atlantic in ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– recent years. 65 kilometers east-southeast of Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina; Caribbean Elaenia (Elaenia martinica ). ABA CLC 2 June 2008. © Steve N. G. Howell. Record #2009-01, a reevaluation of a previous CLC record (Gill 1985). One singing individual at Fort Pick - and central Argentina. Some individuals migrate northward to ens, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Escambia County, Florida winter (during the boreal summer) in Amazonia, north to on 28 April 1984. Discovered by Evelyn Barbig, photographed Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil. Coincidentally, this South by Robert Duncan, and observed by several others. Accepted American species was just added to the AOU Area on the basis by the Florida Ornithological Society Records Committee of a record from Panama in December 2007 (Robb et al. 2009). (FOSRC; Powell 1986) and by the CLC after much “soul- Crowned Slaty-Flycatcher (587.1) is placed on the ABA searching” and admission that the identification represented a Checklist as a Code 5 species between Variegated Flycatcher “borderline case” (Gill 1985). The single, marginal photograph (587) and Tropical Kingbird (588). shows a rather elongated tyrannid flycatcher with a small head and short bill. The Sinaloa Wren (Thryothorus sinaloa ). bird is conspicuously ABA CLC Record #2008-11. One singing crested, with white visible at individual, presumably an adult, at an el - the rear of the crest. The un - evation of 4,000 feet at Patagonia–Sonoita derparts are hidden by a Creek Preserve, Santa Cruz County, Ari - leaf, but were described zona found on 25 August 2008 and pres - as white. The bird shows ent into August 2009. Discovered and conspicuous white wing- photographed by Matt Brown and Robin bars. The song was de - Baxter, and observed, photographed, and scribed as a short series of audio-recorded by many others (no for - pleasant whistles in com - mal paper published through August plex phrases, but it was not 2009). Distinguished from other med- 3 audio-recorded. ium-sized wrens by its rich, varied, war - Having strengthened its bling song; moderate black streaking on The superb documentation that accompanied this criteria for accepting species the auriculars and neck; brown back con - record, including high-quality photographs of the to the official Florida bird trasting with rusty tail; and plain under - spread wings and audio-recordings, allowed the ABA list, the FOSRC in 2009 Checklist Committee to accept White-crested Elaenia parts with gray breast.