THE CHANGING SEASONS: CORNUCOPIA 
Flights 
The winner of the 2008 “most notable autumn 
flight” award was hotly contested among sev- 
eral species. Many birders from the Northeast 
to the Great Lakes and locally to the south 
probably voted for White -winged Crossbill or 
Pine Siskin. Crossbill numbers continued 
strongly from the summer season in Nova 
Scotia and Maine; the species appeared in 
Massachusetts (and a few in southern On- 
tario) already in August and in Connecticut by 
early September. Large numbers were found in 
much of New England and upstate New York 
in November, and by late November some 
were south to northern Virginia and west from 
Ohio and Michigan to Iowa and Wisconsin. 
Farther west, there were lots in northeastern 
Minnesota by late October, and a few were in 
the Dakotas. In the true West, summering 
White-wingeds in Utah continued, and New 
Mexico obtained its first-ever specimen. 
Pine Siskins staged a huge flight in the 
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, with good num- 
bers also found east to the Great Lakes and 
Central South, locally farther west to Missouri 
and Iowa, and smaller numbers to the south in 
Arkansas, Louisiana, and Florida. Coupled 
with this movement were large numbers of 
American Goldfinches. Few other winter 
finches were appreciably on the move this sea- 
son, though stray Purple and Cassin’s Finches 
were recorded in unusual places in Alaska. 
Most montane species in the West stayed put, 
although Pine Grosbeaks in the Pacific North- 
west and Steller’s Jays in California’s Central 
Valley were two interesting exceptions. 
Cave Swallow — the perennial fall favorite 
in the East — put on another fine show, with 
excellent numbers discovered yet again in No- 
vember (a few as early as late October): in the 
Atlantic Provinces (17), including Newfound- 
land’s long-awaited first (Frontispiece), plus 
nine individuals reported from eastern 
Quebec; in New England (ca. 200), where the 
peak count was made on 11 November and 
where one was found far inland in Vermont; in 
the Hudson-Delaware region (ca. 300, includ- 
ing 200+ at Cape May alone); and around the 
eastern Great Lakes region to Ontario (37+) 
and Ohio (10). Smaller numbers were found 
in Maryland and Virginia (28) and in Florida 
(7+). A few were also discovered farther west 
in Indiana and Illinois (the latter a first record, 
and unusually early in September) and south 
to Arkansas and along the Gulf Coast in 
Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. 
In the Northeast, birders have discovered 
several sewage-treatment plants that do not 
treat the effluent with certain chemicals. 
which allows large numbers of midges to ex- 
ist, even after the weather has turned very 
cold. Two such facilities are located in 
Philadelphia and in New Haven, Connecticut. 
These sites hosted not only numbers of late- 
season Cave Swallows but also several late 
Barn Swallows — and perhaps most surprising 
of all, moderate numbers (up to 100+) of 
Northern Rough-winged Swallows that in sev- 
eral past years have remained/survived well in 
to the early winter and possibly beyond. 
(Moderate numbers of Rough-wingeds have 
been found some years during the late autumn 
along the Niagara River as well.) The New 
Haven site also hosted an impressive array of 
late-lingering warblers in bordering trees and 
bushes, much like a famous warm-water 
sewage-effluent outfall channel in Chicago did 
three decades ago. This is a great example of a 
unique micro-habitat that is worth searching 
for in many regions through the Christmas 
Bird Count season and possibly beyond. 
Honorable mention during autumn 2008 
also goes to Snowy Owl, which staged a no- 
table — and early — irruption in the eastern 
half or two-thirds of the continent. It was the 
largest flight in years in the Atlantic 
Provinces, and it began there and in southern 
Quebec and Ontario by the third week of Oc- 
tober, quite early. One had already made it 
south to New York City by mid-October, and 
another was south to Virginia in November. 
The flight also commenced earlier than usual 
in the Prairie Provinces. 
Autumn flights by other species included a 
substantial push of Red-bellied Woodpeckers 
to the Atlantic Provinces and northern New 
England, and better-than-average numbers of 
Clay-colored Sparrows, Dickdssels, and per- 
haps Yellow-headed Blackbirds along much of 
the East Coast. The usual “southern” passer- 
ines were in average numbers north to the At- 
lantic Provinces, New England, and the Great 
Lakes. A localized flight of American Three- 
toed and especially Black-backed Woodpeck- 
ers took place in the western Great Lakes. In 
contrast, there has not been a notable flight of 
Black-backeds into the northeastern United 
States since the early 1960s. 
We do not usually consider “flights” of 
Siberian birds in the same breath with irrup- 
tive species that nest in North America, but 
surely many of the same forces — and not sim- 
ply weather patterns — act on both groups to 
produce years of many “extralimital” records 
versus years of few or no records. In recent 
years, there has been a good correlation be- 
tween the numbers of Red-throated and 
japonicus (“Siberian”) American Pipits found 
on Bering Sea islands (e.g., Gambell, St. 
Lawrence Island, and St. Paul Island) in Alas- 
ka during late August and September and the 
numbers found later in fall farther to the 
southeast along the Pacific Coast, particularly 
in California and Baja California. For exam- 
ple, 1992 and 2003 were years of relatively 
high abundance in both regions. The autumn 
of 2008 was also a very good year for both 
species in western Alaska, and Red-throateds 
subsequently were found in small numbers in 
south-central and southeastern Alaska (where 
casual), and good counts came from coastal 
California and in Baja California, with a few 
also found well inland in the Mojave Desert, 
and one way south for a first in Oaxaca, Mex- 
ico. The numbers of japonicus, however, to 
the south this year were lower than expected, 
given past years’ patterns. 
Trends 
Fulvous Whistling-Duck population trends 
appear mostly negative inside its U.S. range. 
But one area with positive news is southeast- 
ern Arkansas (including local nesting), and a 
hefty 2000 were counted at one site in south- 
western Louisiana. 
Much has been written about the long-term 
declines in many gallinaceous birds, either 
throughout their ranges or at least in large re- 
gions. The news continues to be generally bad 
for Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Ruffed Grouse (in 
parts of the Northeast, at least), and Northern 
Bobwhite (down almost everywhere, though 
numbers on Cape Cod were up). 
Brown Booby numbers have increased in 
the Southeast but also along the coast of Cal- 
ifornia. A small colony has been established 
for several years on the Los Coronados Is- 
lands just south of the border off Tijuana. 
Small numbers of almost-resident birds have 
set up shop for months on end on small islets 
off one or two of the California Channel Is- 
lands, as well as to the north on the Farallon 
Islands. Reports farther north are increasing 
slightly as well, with a dead bird found this 
period in Oregon. 
In some areas, Cooper’s Hawk numbers ap- 
pear to be rising greatly, with Sharp-shinneds 
being left in the dust. In several states, Coop- 
er’s are quickly adapting to residential neigh- 
borhoods, regularly as local breeders. Their 
habit of perching in the open in areas fre- 
quented by observers also makes them much 
more easily detected. Not long ago in many 
areas south of the Canadian border, Sharp- 
shinneds and Cooper’s were reported in about 
equal numbers, but now numbers of the latter 
are clearly dominant, perhaps by a factor of 
24 
HORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
