THE CHANGING SEASONS: Winter of the half-ha.rdies StephenJ.Dinsmore saw rain or slushysnow that melted quickly. accordingto Pam Hunt in New England, Somenorthern regions, including the Pacific "therewas no hint of a Januaryor February DepartmentofWildlife and Fisheries Coastnorth to Alaskaand parts of the Inter- thaw."Ihe UnitedStates' largest estuary, the mountainWest, experienced record or near- ChesapeakeBay, even froze over briefly, [or Box9690 recordwarm temperatures. As an example, the first time since1979. Still, the cold over Alaska recorded one of its warmest winters MississippiStateUniversity much of the United States' Atlantic coast was on record,Idaho recordedits third warmest notas severe as in themid-1970s, particularly MississippiState, Mississippi 39762 Januaryon record,and January temperatures the winter of 1976-1977. in Oregonaveraged 8 ø F above normal. Precipitationpatterns also drew attention. (email:sdinsmore@cfr. msstate.edu) Accordingly, reservoirs remained ice4ree, and Manyparts of theWest saw mild relief from manywater birds wintered farther north than the long-termdrought conditions. Parts of usual. the PacificNorthwest, Idaho, Montana,the JoeFontaine An articulatesummary of theweather from Great Basin, and the Great Plains received NewMexico illustrates this pattern: "Contin- much-needed late-winter snowfall. Farther 1311NW DixonStreet uing the trendof recentwinters, warm and east,parts of the GreatLakes and the Mid- Corvallis,Oregon 97330 dry were the dominantweather themes [or westreceived below-normal snowfall, while winter 2002-2003,with Januarywitnessing otherregions were at or nearexpected pre- (email:[email protected]) thesmashing of century-oldrecords [or high cipitationlevels. Areas still sufferingfrom averagetemperatures at many stations. Birds below-normalprecipitation levels in theEast continuedto respondto this warmingdi- saw rdie[, but from Virginianorthward, inter--afascinating season during mate,with numerousspecies lingering late, muchof thiscame in theform of heavy snow, which many birds (and birders)are winteringnorth of usual,or returningearly whichhindered birding on manydays. pushedto theirphysiological, ecological, and and,[or severalspecies, nesting was under- geographiclimits by cold temperatures, way by January."By contrast,most regions Birdshardy, by half inclementweather, and short days. It is the eastof the RockyMountains saw a returnto In theWest, winter finches were replaced this seasonwhen bird diversity is at a lowin most more "typical"winter conditionsafter two seasonby swallows, warblers, and a generally regions,and when many birders take a brief consecutiverather mild winters.Many areas smartarray of [ate-lingeringbirds that defies hiatusto prepare[or the impendingrush of experiencednormal or bdow-normaltem- a simplesummary here. With sucha wealth springmigration. We usually enjoy a gradual peratures,although December was unseason- ofrecords to peruse, it seemsa good winter in cessationof birdingactivities through winter, ablymild in someareas. As an indicationof whichto askthe question:"With the record punctuatedby an active ChristmasBird theseverity of late winter, Lake Superior froze warmth in the West and the bitter cold and Countseason and perhaps an annualouting completely[or thefirst time since 1979. Brian snowin the East,did recordsof lingering on NewYears Day. But winter is alsothe sea- Dalzdl, in the At[anticProvinces' report, Neotropical(and other) migrants reflect the son[or other birding activities: gull watching noted"that most observers under the age of differencein weatherpatterns?" The answer (or simply"gulling," as some of ourlarophile 50 could not recall the last time it had been so to thequestion is alreadywell beyond reach friendscall it), searches[or winterirruptives cold[or so long."Farther south, in Mexico, ,as it must be basedon observationspro- (if theymake it far enoughsouth), and off- the winter was cooler than normal in the cen- [oundlyinfluenced by weatherconditions: shore pelagic trips [or alcids and other tral highlandsand closerto normalelse- manybirders in the Eastfound themselves oceanicvisitors, to namea few.As in previous where. snowboundon weekends,unable to check essayshere, we provide a synopsisof weather Thesinusoidal signature of thejet stream theirlocal birding patches at all! Despitethe patternsand bird distribution[or selected in suchwinters--riding very high in the rhetoricalnature of thequestion, the regional speciesin winter2002-2003, followed by a West,running down through the middleof reports'records do promptone to wonder discussionof topicswe hopewill be of inter- the continent,then curvingup alongthe whetherthe season•climatic disparity was estto readers:the subjects of speciesvariabil- Atlanticcoast---cut through the center of the reflected in our informal summaries of bird ity andof birders'rdationship to science. PrairieProvinces region, so that while Alberta distribution(our "sightings"this past win- enjoyedmilder temperatures and sixlinger- ter. Weather ing speciesof warblers, Manitoba and Froma cursoryscan of regionalreports, it The continentalweather pattern of winter Saskatchewanwere eventually, after a milder would seem that the West outdid the East in 2002-2003 was one of stark contrast between earlywinter, locked into winter conditions lingeringand overwintering birds by several East and West. Moderate E1 Nifio conditions far different,with thecoldest February since ordersof magnitude.lake a mornerato with mild temperaturesand bdow-average 1979in Manitoba.Ihe GreatLakes through appreciatethe incredulitythat runs through precipitationprevailed across much of the the Northeast,the Marltimes, and indeed Ihede Iobish'sAlaska regional report--the West.When precipitationdid fall, many mostof theEast generally reflected the influ- record warmth allowed birds almost never localitiesthat typically receive snow instead ence of the low-ridingjet streamhere: seen in Alaska in winter to remain all winter 164 NORTI• AMERICAN BIRD HE C- NGI• E • -ON and in numbers in some cases. Twospecies of rail,four species of warbler,a Swainson•Thrush, and a Brown Pelican in Alaska in winter? When one adds suc- cessfullyoverwintering Spotted Towhee, American Goldfinch, Western Meadowlark, and ; waterfowland sparrowsof all sortsto the roster,along with Januaryrecords of speciessuch as Red Phalaropeand Greater Yellowlegs,the correlationhere between record warmth and unprecedentedlingerings and overwinteringsseems clear and • strong,and this impression con- tinuesall alongthe northern ' • Pacificcoast, with bird records from Idaho, Alberta,and Mon- ,, tanasouth through Texas simi- larlyoff the charts. AWhite-laced Ibisin Idaho, •. •" ß• for instance,was a winter first .• and unexpectedfor a species that rarelywinters away from the southern tier of states. Strangerstill, a CanadaWarbler • in California was on no one'slist of expectedoverwinterers-- ; there appearto be no other North American winter records. - And plentyof other warblers were exceptionalin their respectiveareas: Black-throated Blue and Hooded Warblers in BritishColumbia (!), Magnolia Warbler in Arizona, Wilson's Ire w•er distributionofvarious rm• ofFox 5parr• ispoorly kn•, •iall• arro•large areas of the interior •est. lhis Warbler in Idaho, Yellow- Sparrow(subspedes unalas•censis), thefirst docum•ed for lrizona, was found at t• BoBelho•on l•oretumState throated and Palm Warblers in Superior26(here ] 1 ) 0aober]00] andre•imd through24 Nove•r. Photo9raphby6a• Rosenberg. Utah, Yellow and Hermit War- blersin Washington,and American Redstart ing theirlate dates were even more astound- tive areas,as did a Brewer'sSparrow in late in Oregon,Pine and Wilson'sWarblers in ing:in mid-December,a Buff-breasted Sand- Januaryin Idaho. New Mexico,and an overunnteringYellow- piper was discoveredin southwestern Oneof thebig stories in thePacific North- rumpedWarbler in North Dakota(its first) Louisiana,while in Texas,a flock of over 200 westwas the widespread influx of BarnSwal- areonly some of themore striking examples. WitSOh'SPhalaropes, plus 6 Red-necked lows in January,a repeatof last winter's A PhiladelphiaVireo in Californiaconstituted Phalaropes,overwintered at La Saldel Reyin extraordinarilyearly migratory pulse but one oneof veryfew winter records for theUnited Hidalgo County. In addition to Alaska's involvingtar more individualsßBarn Swal- States, while a Common Poorwill in Col- BrownPelican, out-of-season Pacific seabirds lowswere widely noted from California north oradowas extraordinary on the dateof 15 includedmany shearwaters--Pink-looted intoBritish Columbia (see the "Special Atten- December.The hummingbirdshow was andFlesh-looted among them---off Washing- tion"essays for relevant regions). Individuals good,by most standards, if not stellar: Broad- ton,and scrippsi Xantus• Murrelets off Mon- in Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho (!), and the billedsin Coloradoand Oklahoma,a Costa's tereyCounty, California in Decemberand GreatBasin also appeared to be part of this in Oregon,and above-normalnumbers of January. unusualmovement. Most of thereports came Violet-crowneds in the desert Southwest. Normallyabsent from the United States in fromcoastal sites, with only a fewindividuals Shorebirdsand seabirdsalso lingered. winter,as manyas nineSwainson's Hawks recordedinland. Tagging along were three Notablewader reports included a totalof 4 werediscovered wintering in SouthTexas this Cliff Swallowsin BritishColumbia, four more Ruffsin Oregonand Washington, a Pectoral year.Granivores