PEEPS

GRAY-COLLARED BECARD - Southeast Arizona

Perhaps the next new bird for the ABA Area, a female Gray-collared Becard (Pachyramphus major) was reported today, 5 June, by Jillian Johnston, Anne Pellegrini, and Ryan Davis.  The bird has been identified as the uropygialis subspecies which can be separated from female Rose-throated Becards by the "cinnamon-rufous crown contrast with broad black eyestripe, underparts and hindcollar pale lemon", The Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America, Howell and Webb).

Gray-collared Becard is a Mexican and northern Central American endemic, the western uropygialis subspecies found as close to Arizona as southern Sonora, where it is mostly found in oak/pine forests and is most easily separated to subspecies in birds in female plumage (The Birds of Mexico..., Howell and Webb).

Photographs are courtesy of Chris West.

 

The becards have recently been removed from their historical placement in the Tyrant-Flycatchers and by some authors who thought they should be placed in the Cotinga Family, but now reside in the newly created Tityridae alongside the other becards, the three tityras, Cinereous and Speckled Mourners, and White-naped Xenopsaris, all tropical species.

This bird may be a first year male.  The blackish scapulars and tertials are characteristic of male birds. 

Zenaida Dove - Florida

One of seven dove species in the Zenaida genus, Zenaida aurita is an ABA Code-5 species with only a handful of records from Florida.  Larry Manfredi found the most recent ABA-area Zenaida Dove in Key Largo on 4 June.

Aurita translates as having long ears and Zenaida was the first name of French ornithologist, prince Charles Bonaparte's wife (A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names, Jobling).  All of the other Zenaida congeners have 14 rectrices (tail feathers) not the 13 found in this species (HBW, Vol. 4.).

Itis believed, Zenaida Dove was once an inhabitant of the Florida Keys with two specimen records from the late 1800s (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition, HBW Vol. 4.). It is a resident from the Bahamas, the West Indies, and the northern Yucatan Peninsula.

Rare Seabirds off Cape Hatteras

If you had to choose one location where you might have a chance to encounter multiple rare species in one day in the ABA Area, your choice should be the pelagic waters off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in late May.  On a May 29th pelagic trip to the Gulf Stream, three ABA Code-3 endangered Bermuda Petrels (Pterodroma cahow) were seen, in addition to an ABA Code-3 Fea's Petrel (Pterodroma feae), and ABA Code-3 Trindade Petrel (Pterodroma arminjoniana), and an ABA Code-4 European Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus).

Bermuda Petrel is often called by its species name, cahow, for the vocalization it makes. Early sailors thought the sounds they made came instead from devils and refused to colonize the area.  Bermuda Petrel is the national bird of Bermuda and more importantly offers a lesson in hope for imperiled seabirds worldwide.  Although thought to be extinct for 330 years, in 1951, 18 surviving pairs were discovered on rocky islets off Bermuda.  A program to reestablished this species was begun by Dr. David Wingate.  Removing predators, Dr. Wingate then built concrete burrows whose dimensions excluded slightly larger species.  The result is an example of one of the best success stories in avian conservation.

Bermuda Petrels once numbered in the tens of thousands before Spanish explorers discovered the islands.  Although the Spanish never settled here, they did leave pigs and over the next 100 years the pigs destroyed almost 90 percent of the existing petrel population, rooting in the burrows and eating the petrel eggs and chicks.  In 1609, the English settled Bermuda.  By then Bermuda Petrels were restricted to the remote islands.  Rats and cats destroyed most of the remaining population, so by the 1620s Bermuda Petrel was thought to be extinct.

Murphy's Petrel - California

Reported to be a regular spring visitor off of California, but not necessarily annual, an ABA Code-3 Murphy's Petrel was found and photographed on a Monterey Bay pelagic trip on 23 May.   A whir of cameras could be heard while leaders and participants were careful to separate this bird from the larger Great-winged Petrel.

Pterodroma ultima (a great name) breeds in the tropical Pacific (May-July), especially on islands lying near the Tropic of Capricorn, or approximately 23 degrees south of the Equator, especially some of the islands in the Pitcairn, Tuamotou, Austral, and Gambier Groups, and also possibly on Cook Island.  Little is known of their biology.  They are suspected to disperse north after breeding, north to the northern Hawaiian Island chain and to the eastern tropical Pacific as far as the California Current (Albatrosses, Petrels& Shearwaters of the World, Onley and Scofield).

The great photograph is courtesy of Jeff Poklen.

Green Violetear - Texas

In the Edwards Plateau region of Texas, a Green Violetear was confirmed from photos taken by the bird's finder, Delyse Jaeger at Eaton Hill Wildlife Sanctuary in Sonora, Texas.  The Edwards Plateau has been the location for many of the Texas records of this species, Colibri thalassinus, many reported from mid-May through July (TOS Handbook of Texas Birds, Lockwood and Freeman).

This ABA Code-3 species is common in the Mexican Highlands and can be found south to the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and extreme northwest Argentina (Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World, Sixth Edition).  Farther south in its highland range, Green Viloetear is fond of the common Inga and Erythrina trees, ones that are planted for the overstory of shade coffee plantations where the birds may be seen singing their monotonous "song" on exposed twigs; the males often with their violet "ears" flared (Birds of Northern South American, Vol. 1, Restall et al. ).  The A.O.U. Check-list Committee recently decided to remove the hyphen that used to separate violet from ear.

The Other Parulas

Both Northern and Tropical Parulas are obvious members of the Parula genus, but a good look from beneath a Crescent-chested Warbler shows how similar in appearance it is to the two better known parulas.  Crescent-chested's finely tipped bills are more a characteristic of the Vermivora warblers, where it once was placed.  In fact, the songs of Crescent-chesteds are buzzy like both Vermivoras and Parulas, but it does not ascend up the scale like Tropical and Northern Parula songs. Crescent-chested Warblers' nests are placed on the ground like Vermivoras, but unlike tree-nesting parulas.

The is a fourth parula too, the handsome Flame-throated Warbler of Costa Rica and the Western Highlands of Panama. 

Photograph is courtesy of Chris West.

An ABA Code-4 Crescent-chested Warbler (Parula superciliosa), named for its white supercilium, was seen in Pinery Campground in Pinery Canyon on the west side of Arizona's beautiful Chiricahua Mountains on 13 May.  It was first found by Stan Shadick and his wife and was reported from the area at least through the 16th of May.

Fan-tailed Warbler - New Mexico

 An ABA Code 4 Fan-tailed Warbler, the only representative of the genus, Euthlypis, was found on 18 May in Melrose Woods near Melrose, New Mexico, by Gary Froehlich.

Fan-tailed Warbler at an antswarm in Mexico, 29 March '09.  Photograph courtesy of Brian Gibbons.

Euthlypis lacrymosa has only been reported a few times in the ABA Area, most records from Arizona, but one record from Big Bend National Park, TX, in late summer 2007.  This unique warbler is a resident from northwestern Mexico (Sonora and southern Tamaulipas) south to western Nicaragua.  The northern populations are migratory (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition).  With its distinctive broken white eye ring and white loral spot, the facial pattern, to some, appears as a bird shedding a tear, thus the species name, lacrymosa.  The appropriate common name, fan-tailed, comes from this bird's habit of pumping its tail up-and-down and moving it from side-to-side while spreading the feathers open as it walks along the ground.

Greater Sand-Plover - Florida

A true rarity, just the second sighting in the ABA Area, and only the second sighting in the Western Hemisphere, a Greater Sand-Plover was reported today, 14 May, by Doris Leary, Lesley Royce, and Carol Adams a Huguenot Lagoon in Huguenot Memorial Park in Jacksonville, Florida.  The ABA Code 5 species winters in South Africa, Australasia, and the Mediterranean region (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition). This species is generally 20 percent larger than its congener, Lesser Sand-Plover, but their sizes can overlap.  Greater Sand-Plover is slightly larger-headed, larger-bellied, and longer-legged than Lesser (The Shorebird Guide, O'Brien et. al.).  The Jacksonville bird is reported to be in alternate plumage. Photo is courtesy of Ron Clark taken on 22 May.

 

Below image, courtesy of Danny Bales.

Flamed-colored Tanager returns to Madera Canyon

First spotted by the owners of the Madera Canyon Kubo on 30 April, a male Flame-colored Tanager (Piranga bidentata) returned for a seventh consecutive year.  Could this be the same individual?  This year, the first sighting is almost one month later than it has arrived in previous years.

Photo courtesy of Gina Hallgren.

 

An unconfirmed rumor reports all Piranga tanagers, including the breeders to the ABA Area, Hepatic, Summer, Scarlet, and Western, will all be moved from the Tanager Family and placed in the Cardinalidae, Cardinals and Allies, with the publication of the next Supplement to the A.O.U. Check-list.  Wherever their placement taxonomically, this group of birds will remain spectacular additions to the spring and summer aviafauna in their respective breding ranges.

Baikal Teal, Alberta

Three Alberta, Canada birders, Eric Tull, Mike Mulligan, and Phil Cram found a male Baikal Teal Anas formosa on 30 April northeast of Calgary.  This species is currently an ABA Code 4 bird, but don't be too surprised if it is reported more frequently in the ABA Area in the future.

After a significant population decline during the 1980s (20,000-40,000 birds), the population estimates for Baikal Teal are now approximately 500,000 birds (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition).  This species breeds in Siberia and northeastern Russia, with a wintering range in eastern China, Japan, and with huge concentrations of birds now wintering in Korea.

Bailkal Teal, Cheonsuman Bay, Republic of Korea.  Photo courtesy of See Han Soo.

Stay tuned for an article by Birding editor, Ted Floyd, in the August issue of Winging It who tells of a mass exodus of South Korean birders from his lecuture.  Those fleeing from the lecture chose instead to watch a massive flock of migrating Baikal Teal outside.  To learn what Ted did without an audience, read the August issue of Winging It.