First North American Record of the Black-Winged Stilt

EXTRALIMITAL RECORD

First North American record of the Black-winged Stilt

C. Fred Zeiilemaker, Merlin S. Eitzroth and Jay E. Hamernick

a wildlife census in the western NAleutianMAY 24, Islands1983,while for conductingthe Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, we discovereda healthyBlack-winged Stilt (Himantopushimantopus) at a pond on 691-hectareNizki Island (52 ø43'N, 173ø 59'E). Previouslythere was neithera North American record of this species nor an Alaskanrecord of this genus. When first detectedby EItzroth, the bird was restingbelly-deep in the fresh waterpond, puzzling us as to its identity. When it stoodup, exposingits longpink legs,however, identification was simple: it was obviouslya stilt. The lack of a white spotbetween the eye and the dark Black-wingedStilt, Nizki Island, Aleutians,Alaska, May 26, 1983. Photo/C.F. Zeillemaker cap and the lack of a dark hindneckjoin- ing the headcap to the black back sepa- rated the bird from the Black-necked Stilt Characterized as "sedentar)5erratic and (Himantopusmexicanus) of the Nearcftc and Neotropics(Prater et al., 1977). We migratory," this long-leggedwading bird made agedthe bird as immatureby its white- its first appearance on our shores in Alaska's tippedsecondaries (op. cit.). We studied Maritime National Wildlife Refuge it at leisureas it foragedabout the pond, andphotographed it on May 26. The bird was still presentwhen we left the island on June 3. thorities(e.g., Vaurie) regardthe similar A Field Guideto the Birdsof Japan.Wild Black-necked Stilt as the New World Bird Societyof Japan,Tokyo. The Black-wingedStilt is widelydis- subspeciesof this bird. PRATER, A. J., J. H. MARCHANT, and J. tributed in the Palearctic, but does not Thanks to Daniel D. Gibson of the VUORINEN. 1977. Guide to the Identifi- normallyoccur anywhere near the Bering cation and Aging of Holarctic Waders, Sea. It is found from the Iberian Peninsu- Universityof AlaskaMuseum and Calvin BritishTrust for OrnithologyGuide #17. J. Lensink and Colleen M. Handel of the la to lndochinaand Malaya. It is "seden- VAURIE, C. 1965. The Birds of the Palearc- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchor- tic Fauna, Vol. 2, Non-Passeritbrmes. H. tary, erratic and migratory, the birds age, who criticallyreviewed the original F. & G. Witherby, London. whichbreed farther north are migratory draftof thisnote and offered several sug- ßand it is reportedas a very rare mi- gestionsfor its improvement. grant or stragglerfrom Manchuria, Ko- rea, Sakhalin,Japan, Ryu Kyus, Bonins, LITERATURE CITED Volcanos and Formosa" (Vaurie, --U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1965:439). There have been occasional CRAMP, S. and K. E. L. SIMMONS (Eds.). Box 5251 NAS Adak, FPO Seattle, WA 1983. The Birds of the Western Palearctic, records of the bird in southern Siberia 98791 (Zeillemaker), 3595 NW Roose- Vol. 3. Oxford UniversityPress, Oxford. (Cramp and Simmons, 1983), and there MASSEY, J. A., S. MATSUI, T. SUZUKI, velt Drive, Corvallis, OR 97330 (EItz- are a few breedingrecords t¾om central E. P. SWIFT, A. HIBI, N. ICHIDA, Y. roth), 3748 McCracken Lane, Arden Japan (Massey et al., 1982). Some au- TSUKAMOTO, and K. SONOBE. 1982. Hills, MN 55112 (Hamernick).

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