ASUNGREBEINNEWMEXICO 
Figure 6. The Sungrebe flew easily over water control structures as it fed along the canall 8 November 2008. 
Photograph by Stephen M. Fettig. 
feeding actively as it moved along the canal, 
covering a distance of some 500 m, picking 
flies or other small insects from the water. 
It swam with a jerky, gallinule-type motion, 
the head moving forward and back. When 
it encountered small irrigation structures, 
or weirs, it flew over them with ease, to 
continue feeding on the other side (Figure 
6). The white band on the trailing edge of 
the tail was only visible when in flight. The 
yellow and black toes were visible when it 
climbed over driftwood. Overall, the bird 
appeared to be in unworn plumage, was 
seemingly healthy, and was generally wary; 
it was not heard to vocalize. It was clearly a 
female, with a conspicuous buffy cheek 
patch. Although the bill was reddish, its rel- 
ative dullness (as opposed to scarlet) sug- 
gested the bird was not in high breeding 
condition (Alvarez del Toro 1971). 
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife 
Refuge (33° 48’ N, 106° 54’ W; elevation 
1370 m) is in the Rio Grande Valley in So- 
corro County, south-central New Mexico; it 
is intensively managed for waterfowl, with 
numerous ponds, marshes, and canals of 
varying sizes adjacent to the Rio Grande. 
The refuge would seem to provide an at- 
tractive locale for a Sungrebe, and the same 
could be said for much of the valley south 
of the refuge through Sierra County and 
Dona Ana County, including Elephant 
Butte Lake, Caballo Lake, and associated ir- 
rigation networks, south to El Paso, Texas. 
Beyond El Paso, however, as the river bends 
eastward, it is often dry for long stretches as 
it passes through a rocky and often moun- 
tainous desert landscape, making a “follow 
the river” scenario difficult to imagine. The 
refuge lies some 1370 km northwest of the 
nearest known Sungrebe population in 
northern Mexico. 
Autumn 2008 was relatively mild in New 
Mexico. According to the National Weather 
Service (<www.srh.noaa.gov>), November 
was drier and warmer than normal, with 
the period 11-19 November noted for 
“tranquil weather” and above-normal tem- 
peratures. At the refuge, daily high temper- 
atures during 11-19 November averaged 
21.6° C; lows averaged -4.5° C, with the 
coldest morning, 15 November, registering 
-8.1° C (D. Perry, U. S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, in litt.). The tranquil weather end- 
ed with the arrival of a strong cold front 19 
November that brought colder tempera- 
tures and strong winds, including to the 
Rio Grande Valley. Of unknown signifi- 
cance is that 13 November, the date of dis- 
covery, coincided with the full moon. 
Sungrebes in captivity 
The identification of the New Mexico Sun- 
grebe was not in question, but how it came 
to be in the state’s Rio Grande Valley gener- 
ated considerable discussion, with the pos- 
sibility that the bird may have escaped from 
captivity, or otherwise arrived with human 
assistance, receiving much attention. We 
considered several possible sources; public 
and private zoos, private waterfowl and 
game bird breeding operations and similar 
bird parks, the exotic bird trade, and im- 
portation for scientific research, and we 
sought information from as many potential 
sources as we could identify. In addition, 
we contacted government entities for infor- 
mation on regulations governing importing 
and keeping such species. 
In the United States, Sungrebe is not pro- 
tected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the 
Endangered Species Act, or the Convention 
on International Trade in Endangered 
Species (CITES); hence no federal permit is 
needed for importation (W. H. Howe, U. S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, in litt.). A Sun- 
grebe, whether dead or alive, upon entry 
would need to be “declared” to the U. S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, but because it 
has no protection, no action would be tak- 
en (it would not be confiscated) nor any 
formal record maintained. Such a species 
would also need to be declared to the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, which for vari- 
ous reasons (e.g., disease concerns) could 
deny its importation or cause it to be quar- 
antined, but we found no database where 
such actions are stored or are available for 
retrieval. Individual states may require im- 
portation permits or otherwise restrict pos- 
session; to date, we have found no record of 
Sungrebe importation into New Mexico or 
elsewhere. 
We initially contacted local and regional 
zoos for information on captive Sungrebes, 
but the search quickly expanded, with the 
assistance of the zoo community, to become 
international in scope. A review of the In- 
ternational Species Information System 
(ISIS), a global database of zoo collections, 
found no Sungrebe listed. Although ISIS is 
not mandatory, and not all zoos yet partici- 
pate, most institutions in North America 
and Europe are very good at keeping their 
entries up to date. Curators and other zoo 
personnel who responded regarding the 
Sungrebe confirmed that their zoos had no 
Sungrebe and that they knew of no history 
of Sungrebes in captivity. All rumors of 
“captive Sungrebes” turned out to be Sun- 
bitterns (Eurypyga helias), a popular 
species in collections, with at least 87 in 
captivity in North America. Only three 
Mexican zoos are included in the ISIS com- 
pilation; one of those missing is the large 
zoo at Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas (founded 
by M. Alvarez del Toro), but when visited in 
2007 it had no Sungrebe (Parmeter, Old- 
enettel, pers. obs.). Hector Gomez de Silva, 
a Mexican ornithologist with broad knowl- 
edge of that country’s bird life, responded 
(in litt.) that he was unaware of Sungrebes 
in captivity anywhere in Mexico. 
In addition to zoos, we knew that water- 
fowl fanciers and other game bird breeders 
maintain collections of live birds that often 
are worldwide in scope. A colleague, R Mc- 
Connell (in litt.), contacted several interna- 
tional, national, and regional organizations 
for information on possible captive Sun- 
grebes. The replies confirmed that none 
6 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
