PEEPS

Cuban Bullfinch - South Florida

On 24 October Joe Barros found a Cuban Bullfinch (Melopyyrrha nigra) a species not currently on the ABA Checklist.  The bird was in South Miami and is of unknown origin, photographed by many on the 25th. 

There are two subspecies of Cuban Bullfinch, the nominate subspecies residing in Cuba and on the Isle of Pines plus M. n. taylori from Grand Cayman Island.  Although some authors place this species in the Emberizidae family, Buntings, Sparrows, Seedeaters, and Allies, it has recently been moved to the Thraupidae, tanager family, where it remains in a monotypic genus.   The habitat preferences are subtropical or tropical moist lowland and montane forests and heavily degraded former forest. They are popular in the cage bird trade.

Eurasian Bullfinch - St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands

Providing the second and third records for the Pribilof Islands, two ABA Code-4 Eurasian Bullfinches (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) were found on St. Paul Island, Alaska, the most recent was a stunning pink male at the Crab Pots on 9 October. 

The first ABA-area record of Eurasian Bullfinch came from the Yukon River at Nulato in January 1867. They are primarily recorded in the spring in the western Aleutians.  Fall records of Eurasian Bullfinch in the ABA Area include one from Nunivak Island, at least one from Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, and at least 9 from the Alaskan mainland.

Eurasian Bullfinch, one of six members of the Pyrrhula genus, is common and a well known garden bird in its breeding area.  It is a Palearctic breeder from the British Isles to Japan wintering in Europe south to the Mediterranean region, North Africa, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, South Korea, and southern Japan.  They usually leave their breeding grounds in mid-October to as late as early December. Some subspecies are sedentary while others are migratory and others are irruptive.

The birds on the Azores lack any pink coloration and resemble females of the northern races. Some authors consider them to be a separate species.

Oriental Turtle-Dove - St. Lawrence Island, Alaska

On 7 October Peter Scully found an ABA Code-4 Oriental Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia orientalis) on Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.

This is an Asian species breeding across much of Siberia to Southeast Asia (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition, Pranty et al., Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 4) and wintering mainly in India and southeastern Asia.  It occupies a variety of habitats from boreal forests to tropical forests.  They feed mostly on the ground in rice fields and where other cereal grains are planted and on bamboo shoots and other green shoots. Good photographs of this species can be found on page 380 of The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - California & British Colombia

ABA Code-3 juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (Calidris acuminata) were reported from Boundary Bay, British Colombia, on 4 October by Mike Tabak and in California in the Bay area one was at Shollenberger Park in southeastern Petaluma on the same date, continuing to 5 October as reported by Gene Hunn.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper males are 25-30 percent larger than females which have a noticeably shorter wing.  In fall along the Pacific Coast the species is rare but elsewhere, including inland, it is casual.  In winter the majority are found in Australia, especially at Coorong, Port Hedland Saltworks, Eighty Mile Beach, and Anna Plains wetlands. They arrive at these locations via Transbaikalia, a route east of Lake Baikal while others follow a broad front from eastern Kazakhstan to the Sea of Okhotsk.  One flock arrived in Australia with 25,000 birds recorded.  Sharp-tailed Sandpipers breed in Asia where the total population estimate is 166,000 birds (Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 1).   

“Cooper’s Sandpiper” is thought to be a hybrid, Curlew Sandpiper x Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. 

American Flamingos - Louisiana

Present for approximately one week, an unbanded adult and an immature, ABA Code-3, American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) are present at Pass A Loutre WMA (easternmost of the three main passes at the Mississippi River mouth) in the lower Plaquemines Parish. The location is 2.75 miles southeast of Pilottown (29.14559 N, 89.23515 W) and only accessible by boat (boat captains in Venice).

Flamingos are in their own family, the Phoenicopteridae. All flamingos possess a remarkable bill feature, lamellae and feed in a manner similar to the baleen whales.  Between two mandibles, a tongue functions like a piston, pumping water through the lamellae.  Backward facing bristles move food items backwards to the throat while the tongue expels water back out through the mouth.

All species of adult flamingo are pink. The pink coloration comes from carotenoid pigments synthesized by algae or the organisms which feed on algae. The carotenoids are converted by enzymes into usable pigments, canthaxanthin, found in the feathers and in bare skin areas.  With their long necks, flamingo cervical vertebrae are elongated (only 17 in flamingos compared with 25 in swans), giving flamingo necks an unusual stepped appearance when bent.  The reduced feathering on flamingos’ tibia allow them to wade virtually up to their bellies (Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 1).

Possible Common Chiffchaff - Gambell, St. Lawrence Island

On 30 September Peter Scully found a non-wingbarred Phylloscopus-type warbler on Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.  It was later photographed and is thought to be either an especially dull-looking ABA Code-4 Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) or it could be North America's first Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita). The separation of these two difficult to identify species may require better photos to conclusively identify.  A detailed comparison between Willow Warbler and Common Chiffchaff can be found in Warblers of Europe, Asian and North Africa, Baker, pp. 256-257 and Plate 26 depicts both species.

Common Chiffchaff is a common and widespread resident of the lowlands and mountains of Eurasia (east to central Siberia to the Kolyma River), wintering in the Mediterranean region and northern and northeastern Africa east to India.  Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler occupy the same habitats but the former seems to be more dependent on trees. In its breeding areas, they are approachable and easy to observe.  The European population alone is estimated at 16.5 million pairs. Two of the six described subspecies are altitudinal migrants, the other four being migratory (Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 11).

The recent photograph can be viewed at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scullybirds/

Streak-backed Oriole - Southeast Arizona

On 28 September John Yerger found an ABA Code-4, subadult male Streak-backed Oriole (Icterus pustulatus) above the water feature (this specific area is closed to the public) at Quailway Cottage, Portal, Arizona.  It was seen again very briefly on 2 October.

A resident along Mexico’s Pacific slope to northwestern Costa Rica, Streak-backed Oriole first bred in the ABA Area near Dudleyville, Arizona, in 1993 and again at this location in 1994, 1998, and 2002.  It is casual in California but accidental elsewhere including two records from New Mexico; one was seen coming to sumptuosly stocked feeders by hundreds of birders in Loveland, Colorado, 8 December 2007 to 2 January 2008; two reports came from Texas (a male at Brazos Bend State Park and a female at El Paso). Exceptional was an immature male Streak-backed Oriole near Mercer, Wisconsin, during the first two weeks of January 1998.  The Wisconsin bird was initially rejected by their records committee because of uncertain provenance (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition, Pranty et al.).

Streaked Shearwater - California

Eleven birders completed a pelagic birding trip on the cruise ship, Golden Princess, departing from Vancouver, British Colombia to Los Angeles, California,  25-28 September.  Jay Withgott reported that on 27 September an ABA Code-4 Streaked Shearwater (Calonectris leucomelas) was encountered in California waters 45 miles north of Point Reyes.  In addition, the group saw an adult ABA Code-3 Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus) about 48 miles west of Monterey Peninsula, and an ABA Code-3 Cook’s Petrel (Pterodroma cookii) about 50 miles west of the Monterey County coastline between Carmel and Pt. Sur.

Most Streaked Shearwater records from the ABA Area come from the vicinity of Monterey Bay.  In addition, totally unexpected inland, there are two records including a photographed bird from Red Bluff, California, and one specimen of a salvaged bird from near Medicine Bow, Wyoming. An additional record came from Oregon’s Heceta Bank (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition, Pranty et al.).  Streaked Shearwater is a bird from the northwest Pacific, breeding on islands off Japan, eastern China, Korea, and southeastern Russia.  After breeding they migrate to tropical southeastern China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Coral Sea, and the Indian Ocean (Albatrosses, Petrels & Shearwaters of the World, Onley and Scofield).