THE CHANGING SEASONS: CORNUCOPIA 
5:1 or more. During autumn 2008, one Coop- 
er’s was seen killing a vagrant Burrowing Owl 
in Chicago. 
In the past, vagrant Mississippi and Swal- 
low-tailed Kites east of the Rockies were al- 
most always spring and early summer over- 
shoots or wanderers. However, during the 
past decade the number of late-summer and 
early-autumn records has skyrocketed, rela- 
tively speaking. This increase has been partic- 
ularly noticeable from New England and the 
Mid-Atlantic to the Great Lakes, and it con- 
tinued in 2008. Three pairs of nesting Missis- 
sippi Kites in New England (two nests near 
each other in New Hampshire and one in 
Connecticut) helped this trend along. Two in- 
dividuals in Ontario were the first in fall 
there. Out West, most records of Mississippi 
Kites in California during the late twentieth 
century were from the southeastern deserts in 
May and June; but during the past few years, 
small numbers of these birds have been found 
in both the northern and southern parts of the 
state in fall. 
Populations of Sandhill Crane continue to 
slowly increase in the East, with continuing 
nesting noted in 2008 in Maine and Vermont. 
Hudsonian Godwit numbers during fall 
migration along the East Coast seem down 
substantially, even at such former strongholds 
as coastal New England. In contrast, there has 
been a notable increase in the numbers of 
Marbled Godwits in the East since the 1980s, 
so much so that in places such as New Jersey 
(and perhaps even Maine) there has been a re- 
versal of their relative status. Interestingly, the 
number of Hudsonians turning up this au- 
tumn at a number of interior sites actually 
seemed up, with small but better-than-aver- 
age numbers around some of the Great Lakes, 
in North Dakota, and south to Missouri and 
Tennessee. And the news on Upland Sand- 
pipers continues to be bad. The long-term de- 
cline in the Northeast is well known, but now 
we hear more about reduced numbers of au- 
tumn migrants in the Midwest as well. 
Bonaparte’s Gull numbers seem down in 
many areas (sewage-treatment modernization 
partly to blame?). Possibly related are the 
continuing depressed numbers of Little Gulls, 
at least compared to their peaks in the 1970s 
and 1980s. The New England region, howev- 
er, reported a healthy (by recent standards) 32 
Little Gulls during autumn 2008, including 
12 on Lake Champlain. The numbers of Little 
Gulls at their North American stronghold on 
Lake Erie, where Bonaparte’s continue strong, 
appear to have shifted slightly over the past 
two decades, so that the highest numbers are 
now typically found at Long Point and Point 
Pelee. The news on Black Terns — long seen as 
a declining species in much of its range (only 
two birds were seen this autumn in the At- 
lantic Provinces) — actually continues to im- 
prove in some regions east of the Rockies. 
Numbers of fall migrants have been on the 
upswing in several regions the past several 
years, and large numbers were found in 2008 
immediately following the passage of several 
tropical storms, as is usual. 
Compared to numbers found two or three 
or four decades ago. Western Kingbirds ap- 
pear to have declined noticeably as a fall visi- 
tor along most of the East Coast north of 
Florida. This trend seems surprising because 
coverage during late fall — ^when many indi- 
viduals are found — has only increased, and 
we have heard no news of major population 
declines on the Great Plains. In fact, the 
breeding range of this species — along with 
that of Scissor-tailed Flycatcher — has been 
spreading eastward locally as far as the Mis- 
sissippi River Valley, with a few scattered pairs 
nesting even farther to the east. 
Range Eipansions, Vagrants, and 
Questions of Provenance 
Records of several waterfowl species well out 
of range continue to increase markedly. In 
most cases, these birds are thought to be nat- 
urally occurring vagrants or pioneers from 
expanding populations. But every once in a 
while an escaped bird or two gets thrown in 
to the mix, giving us pause. Black-bellied 
Whistling-Ducks do not seem far behind 
Eurasian Collared-Doves and Cave Swallows 
in the sheer numbers and breadth of distribu- 
tion east of the Rockies. 
This season, individuals and 
small flocks were found 
north to the northern Great 
Plains and Great Lakes and 
east to the Mississippi River 
Valley and along much of 
the Gulf Coast, with single 
observations in a host of 
other eastern states and 
provinces. Clearly, this 
species is on the move. But 
how does one treat a rather 
tame bird in Delaware in 
late summer about ten or so 
years ago, when the species 
was already spreading? Or a 
bird, also tame, that has 
wintered in Delaware into 
2009? A recent individual 
found in upstate New York 
was also rather tame and found to have a 
clipped halux (short rear toe), indicative of a 
former captive. A known escapee was found 
in Connecticut this past summer. Thus, not 
every Black-bellied Whistling-Duck seen in 
“in the wild” is from a wild population, de- 
spite the context. 
Barnacle Geese have been documented as 
showing large population increases in eastern 
Greenland since at least the early 1990s, coin- 
cident with the recent increase in sightings in 
the northeastern quadrant of North America 
between mid-autumn and early spring. These 
patterns would seem to suggest that these are 
movements of wild birds rather than a more 
“random scatter” of escapees (Hanson 2005, 
2008; Sherony 2008). At least two birds shot 
by hunters (Newfoundland in 1981 and east- 
ern Ontario in 2005) were found to have been 
banded in the Old World. In contrast, how do 
we treat rather tame birds that join Canada 
Geese in more urban settings? Other species 
of wild geese do the same thing, often being 
“corrupted” by the local, semi-feral geese to 
become tamer than usual. How important in 
determining provenance is “guilt by associa- 
tion,” be it a Barnacle Goose being found out 
in rural farm fields with large flocks of Cana- 
da Geese containing a few Greenland White- 
fronted, Cackling, or Greenland-banded 
Canada Geese (as was the case with a Barna- 
cle this period in Connecticut, Figure 7), or a 
bird waddling around with Canada Geese at a 
more urban park or golf course with some 
barnyard mongrels thrown in? What if the lat- 
ter bird is found in late fall or winter and it 
departs by early spring? Does that trump its 
“marginal surroundings”? And how do we 
Figure 7. This Barnacle Goose arrived at Wallingford, Hew Haven, Connecticut 9 (here 14) 
November 2008 and stayed through the month's end. It was accompanied by a Greenland 
Greater White-fronted Goose and by Canada Geese that had been banded and neck-col- 
lared in Greenland, which suggests that the Barnacle Goose also came from Greenland, 
the species' nearest known nesting grounds. Photograph by Mark Smtyr. 
VOLUME 63 (2009) • NUMBER 1 
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