STANDARD ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE REGIONAL REPORTS Abbreviations used in placenames: THE In mostregions, place names given in italictype are counties. SUMMER Other abbreviations: Cr Creek SEASON Ft. Fort Hwy Highway June1-July 31, 1991 I. Island or Isle Is. Islands or Isles Jct. Junction AtlanticProvinces Region 1088 SontheroGreat Plains Region 1132 km kilometer(s) Bruce Mactavish JosephA. Grzybowski L. Lake mi mile(s) QnebecRegion 1090 TexasRegion 1135 Mt. Mountain or Mount Michael Gosselin,Richard Yank, GregW Lasleyand Chuck Sexton Mts. Mountains andYves Aubry Maho-Westero Montana 1139 N.E National Forest ThomasH. Rogers N.M. National Monument NewEngiand Region 1092 WayneR. Peterson N.P. National Park MonntainWest Region 1141 N.W.R. NationalWildlife Refuge Hudson-DelawareRegion 1097 HughE. Kingery P P. Provincial Park Robert O. Paxton, Pen. Peninsula WilliamJ. Boyle, Jr., and SonthwestRegion 1145 Pt. Point (not Port) David A. Cutler Arizona:David Stejskal and R. River GaryH. Rosenberg New Mexico: Sartor O.Williams Ill 1101 Ref. Refuge MiddleAtlantic Coast Region HenryT. Armistead andJohn P. Hubbard Res. Reservoir(not Reservation) S.P. State Park 1149 SouthernAtlantic Coast Region 1107 AlaskaRegion WM.A. WildlifeManagement Area HarryE. LeGrand,Jr. T. G. Tobish,Jr. and M. E. Isleib Oregon/Washington 1152 Abbreviations used in the OntarioRegion 1111 names of birds: Ron D. Weir BillTweit and Jim Johnson Am. American Com. Common AppalachianRegion 1114 MiddlePacific Coast Region 1156 David G. Yee,Bruce E. Deuel, E. Eastern GeorgeA. Hall andStephen E Bailey Eur. Europeanor Eurasian WesternGreat Lakes Region 1117 Mt. Mountain DarylD. Tessen SouthernPacific Coast Region 1160 N. Northern GuyMcCaskie S. Southern MiddlewesternPrairie Region 1120 W Western BruceG. Peterjohn HawaiianIslands Region 1163 RobertL. Pyle Otherabbreviations and symbols CentralSouthern Region 1124 1165 referringto birds: RobertD. Purrington WestIndies Region (Spring1991 Report) ad. adult Robert L. Norton 1128 lmm. immature PrairieProvinces Region RudolfE Koesand Peter Taylor luv. juvenalor juvenile WestIndies Region 1166 Robert L. Norton sp. species NorthernGroat Plains Region 1130 ? meansthat written details GordonBerkey were submitted for a sighting * meansthat a specimen was collected c• male 9 female CBC Christmas Bird Count Volume 45, Number 5.1087 ATLANIIC $31. Whilemost of the Region experienced above-average temperatures andb•10w-notmal rainfall, PROVINCES Newfoundlandwasheld in bizarrewinter4ike conditions through June and earlyJuly. Prevail 7 ingnortherly winds from March through June kept heavy pack ice and agrea t abundance of REGION icebergsintight along much of Newfoundland's eastcoast until hte June and earlyJuly..The Bruce Mactavish effecton avifauna was'felt both a t seaand on land, Oceantemperatures remained below normal through the summer. Thi• prevented or seal= ouslydelayed the marine fish, capelin.(Mall0tus villosus)• from spawning in its'usual time peri- od,mid-June toearlyJuly(The•effect ofthis alon ecaused major disruptionSin lifecycles ofthe With completionof the fieldworkfor the higher.end 0fthe marine e.coSystem. MaritimeBreeding Bird Atlas in 1990,there Codfish • notcome insho•, resulting ina nearly complete failtire 9fthe Newfoundland werefewer field observers inthe breeding sea- fishery.Several ne•ting seabird spdcies that depend on the capdin spawning season tocoincide sonthis year. Predictably, the result was fewer -withhatching andfeeding 6(ygting wereespecially Nirdhit Only 30%'•fBla•k4•gged Kitti- Regionalbreakthroughs in breeding bird makenest• contained eggs 1n June, Part 6f thereason was extra predation'by Herdng Gulls, knowledge.With this said, few were prepared .whichdis0 de•nd off •!in asalun•'food SOurce: Co•mmon M•re• •d AffaniiiPuffifis laid for the excitingdiscovery of a largeYellow eggsabout three wee ks befiind schedule. Thesuccess rateof these chicks,fledged-three Weeks Rail breedingcolony in central New late,ren•ins' •b•'•ebn He}ring, •tea• BlaCk:backed, ahdRing-billed gullcoloni es•re full Brunswick. Prince Edward Island and New- (;•adult/31rds,butvery feW young were eais•, In Jufie, large numbers ofdesper&• Herrifi• foundlandeach added one new breeding Gullsturned-to: the-•treets o•St. John's for •od• causingconcern among the human popula- species. .d•n•ankt ahigh number-b•vehide/gull c/•l!isi0•s• .... Vhggffect50ftfiecoM'we•ther 0nPaserines wasmore difficul• tosee: T•re• egst. Newfound- Abbreviations:S.PM (SaintPierre et landsnowfalls'J9 th•'fi•st reft &ys ofju ne surely had a neg• five"impacf. Only a Coupi• ofdead Miquelon). Bl.ackp0•Wa/blerSweiefoi•nd. By rnid-smNkg all •rNe/speciS. g•Eed as •gh iiE• ways.Some observers in the St. John's area noted'a lackof Tree Swallows around their homes. LOONS TO 'Westerr•'Newfoandlandaid:nat:escapeth•ebia• On june 16,'•ifla,a •iddav t•mpetatnre 0f HERONS 6øG•ome •0;Olive-sided Flycatchers hovered along • .i002•stretch -ofbe•ach bythe Deer A few nonbreedingRed-throated Loons k• powerplant• taking advant%e ofa-local insect hatch. Despite vegetad0n being two:to summered on the n. Newfoundland coast: meweekS •behindschedule, therewas n6 detecOle p•ssine •opfilati0n dedifie. oneJune 27, callingas it flewover Birchy L., NF, was most unusualbecause it was at an in- landlocation (BMt). A significantportion of numerousthey can'tall be listed.New Juneand July (m. ob.); seven Snowy Egrets the world'sGreater Shearwaters spend June Brunswickhad single Great Egrets at Shediac lateJune at BonPortage I. (J & GT etal.); andJuly in Newfoundlandwaters, molting BayJune 7-July 31 (DC etal.) and at Porta- andone Little Blue Heron July 28 at Fox wing featherswhile gorging on spawning bellStream July 9 (PPetal.); and aTricolored Harbour(JT etal.). capelin.The effectof the delayed,reduced HeronJune I at SaintRest Marsh (Don Gib- capelinspawning season of 1991on Greater sonet al.). Nova Scotia had a LittleEgret re- WATERFOWL Shearwatersisnot likely to beknown. Num- turningfor its 2nd summer to BonPortage I. FourWood Ducks July 4 nearAdies Lakes, bersfrom traditionalspawning NE were far from the closest beaches on the s. Avalon Pen. weretypically in the low tensof ß (BMt). Nova Scotia'sfirst Gar- thousands;however, they were •5 c%.T•,[•_ • knownganeywas Novaseen Scotiaat Annapolisbreeding Roy-sites feedingmuch closer to shore(ac- al on3 occasionsfrom late May to tuallyin the beachsurf), asop- posedto the coupleof hundred .• •" whounfortunately didnot spread yardsor morefrom shoreof re- the news in dme for others to see centyears (KK, BMt, JW). Manx Shearwaters continue to scout "'• • • ' /• • springit•/e andBMy). early Aftersummer 5consecutive appear- Colombier I., S.P.M., in earnest, •.. g'= with 2 of the 3 artificial burrows •Gi*s••orneNat•pdi4•*• mid-Junebya single observer, beingoccupied by pairs,and sev- • N[:f•'•m[•u_, anceslastconfirmed inthelower asbreeding Grand Codroywhen a eral others calling in nearby femalewith eightyoung was ob- crevicesJuly 12 & 13 (RE etal.). servedJune 23 (CB), a provincial Fourteen Manx Shearwaters off 31st••(%•)N R.,first.NF,Elsewhere, NorthernShovelerN. Shovelerswas at BrierI., NS, July 15 wasa fairly maintainedthe highnumbers of goodcount for that location (FL). recentbreeding seasons. Gad- A surprisingfive Least Bitterns were in New Brunswick,where it '•.s walls,cedinglessspecies, numerousare on than a slowthepre-in- is a rare but regularbreeder: Musquash,June I (JWi);Mistake broodof sevenJune 17 at Sussex, Intervale,June I (SM);Anagance, June 29 (ST); Daley Creek '. "'.R'Ui •/CK•s,••• creasenewbreedingas Regionallocation breeders. (BD);ex- A Marsh,June 29 (RW et al.), and deri tralimital recordswere one June Red Head MarshJuly 27 (DC). '"B' E' 5•. I.•,,y,.•co•O&,. •,* '•i/ N21B, atsewage W. Lawrencetown,lagoon, signalled NSa Nine GreatBlue Herons June 23 at the GrandCodroy tL estuary, Paul's,NF (ST). Summer d' Eur. NF, mustbe breeding locally, but -. Wigeonsalways evoke thoughts at presentthere is no provindal : ":s{,tao•'l/i.'•O •"' of(BMy,possible BS)andRegionalapair breeding,July 7 at St.or breedingrecord (JP). at leasthybridization with locally "Southern herons" were not so • commonAm. Wigeon;so far nei- 1088- American Birds, Winter 1991 ther hasbeen proven. Th,s summerthere w,nds June 20 destroyedmany P•p•ng Plover NE July2 (BMt). weresingle drakes June 24 at lowerGrand nestsin PrinceEdward Island and adjacent The originof theCaspian Terns feeding at CodroyR., NF (CB et al.) andJuly 5 at NewBrunswick areas, but happily these areas BirchyL., NF, with up to 11 a daythrough GrassyI., NB (P.Keough). experiencedgood renesting success. June,is a mystery,unless they commute the Out of thepresent-day breeding range, but One thousandSemipalmated Plovers at 50-miround trip fromthe known breeding possiblywithin the breedingrange of the Cook'sBeach near Yarmouth, NS, July 30 colonynear Howley (BMt). A well-watched nearfuture, were a c3Redhead June 21-July wasimpressive, even for this ubiquitous bird Commonand Arctic tern colony on Peter's I, 15 (RF) anda pairof GreaterScaup all sum- (FL). Thereappears to bea genuineincrease NS, experiencedcomplete nesting failure mer (BMy et al.) at W. Lawrencetown,NS; in number of extralimital Willets n.e. of the owingto gullpredation (fide BMy). A Black and a c3Lesser Scaup all summerat Cape breedingrange over the past 5 summers.This Tern June 13 was a stray as far eastas Brule,NB (ST).A 5?Harlequin Duck with seasonNewfoundland had singles June 8 at StephenvilleCrossing, NF (BMt).At least15 sevenyoung July 23 on Doctor'sBrook,