THE CHANGING SEASONS: CORNUCOPIA 
comm.) and Puerto Rico (G. Armistead, pers. 
comm.), where Ringed Turtle-Dove-like indi- 
viduals are locally commonplace. So what ex- 
actly is going on? 
Despite their close taxonomic relationship, 
the acceptance of extralimital records of 
Northern Cardinal and Pyrrhuloxia appears to 
be heading on different tracks. Many birders 
probably think of both as non-migratory per- 
manent residents, although there is some lim- 
ited seasonal movement within populations of 
both. Patten (2006) showed that there is a 
pattern of dispersal in Pyrrhuloxia in which 
some (perhaps mostly eastern sinuatus) move 
northward and eastward in fall and winter, 
whereas others (mostly western julvescens) 
wander to the west in spring and summer. 
Birds deemed wild vagrants to the north and 
east have occurred as far away as Montana, 
Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The On- 
tario records committee deferred, however, on 
making a decision on the origin of a first-win- 
ter female photographed in that province in 
winter 2004-2005. During autumn 2008, a 
Pyrrhuloxia turned up in Oregon, to mostly 
positive reviews. In contrast, while extralimi- 
tal Northern Cardinals thought to involve 
wild birds of the eastern cardinalis group have 
been found north to Newfoundland and west 
to northern Utah, Montana, and the Prairie 
Provinces, known or presumed releases and 
escapees are also well documented in many 
areas. Such escapees and introductions in- 
volve both cardinalis and southwestern super- 
bus at a variety of sites in California. Several 
birds were found in Washington state during 
2005-2006; one near the coast in May 2005 
was not accepted after it became known that a 
person was releasing cardinals nearby (Hamil- 
ton et al. 2008), and two more were near that 
area in summer 2006, whereas an October 
2006 bird was in the eastern part of the state. 
Other birds in the Pacific Northwest region in 
2008 also have been met with less than full 
enthusiasm by most. 
Documentation deficiencies: 
species, subspecies, and hybrids 
Some field-identifiable subspecies need to be 
better documented and always reported at the 
subspecies level in many regional reports if at 
all possible. Shedding additional light on the 
likely geographic origins of these birds would 
be helpful. Examples: Brant in the interior 
West and Great Plains (e.g., two birds in 
Montana this fall), Willets just a short dis- 
tance inland from the East and Gulf Coasts 
and late in the season along those coasts (see 
below), and Winter Wrens (a potential split) 
throughout the West. Just recently, there has 
been an effort to more carefully delineate be- 
tween eastern and western Winter Wrens seen 
(and heard!) in California, Arizona, Col- 
orado, and New Mexico (where both western 
and eastern birds are being found). 
Cackling Geese 
What is the true status of Cackling Geese out- 
side their normal range? Ever since Cackling 
was split from Canada — and even well before 
that — there has been a fair degree of confu- 
sion and disagreement as to where to draw 
the line between the two species and how to 
safely identify many borderline individuals in 
the field. In much of the East, the biggest 
problems arise between the widespread 
hutchinsii (“Richardson’s”) Cackling Geese 
and some individual Canada Geese that are 
noticeably daintier than most birds in a flock 
(perhaps these smaller individuals are of the 
variable interior or even canadensis subspecies 
of Canada Goose, are intergrades, or perhaps 
are vagrant parvipes from farther west). In the 
West, the situation between tavemeri (“Tav- 
erner’s”) and perhaps hutchinsii Cacklings 
versus parvipes (“Lesser”) Canadas is compli- 
cated. A recent and helpful attempt at clarify- 
ing this muddied situation (Mlodinow et al. 
2008) discusses the lively taxonomic history 
(at both the species and subspecies levels) of 
these birds and inserts the many warranted 
caveats concerning field identification. In 
Lehman’s experience as a recent resident of 
the mid-Atlantic region, a fair number of ob- 
servers are incorrectly identifying smaller 
Canadas in flocks of “regular-sized” Canadas 
as Cackling Geese. We think this has inflated 
the number of true Cacklings that are report- 
ed along the East Coast and in the adjacent 
interior, although clearly Cacklings do occur 
there regularly in small — and probably in- 
creasing — numbers. We think that at least 
some of the geese misidentified as Cackling 
Geese are parvipes, whose status in the East 
also bears clarification. 
Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal 
Some reports of Cinnamon Teal in the East 
actually involve Blue-winged x Cinnamon hy- 
brids (in fact, more hybrids than pure Cinna- 
mons have been found in recent years in 
Florida). Others reported as Cinnamons in 
eclipse plumage in late summer and early au- 
tumn may in fact be eclipse Blue-wingeds 
with a rusty staining to their body plumage, a 
color we have seen on a small but regular 
number of Blue-wingeds in fall (through 
October). 
Pacific Loon 
What is the true status of Pacihc Loon in the 
East? Clearly many good records of this 
species have been documented along the 
Eastern Seaboard and throughout the conti- 
nent’s interior, and this number has increased 
during the past two decades. Much of this 
change can be attributed to increased observ- 
er awareness: better identification skills and 
learning when and where Pacific Loons tend 
to occur (such as at large interior reservoirs 
during late fall) and better coverage of those 
sites. There has also been a relatively recent 
real increase in the number of birds turning 
up in a number of eastern regions, such as 
coastal New England and the Mid-Atlantic. 
But there also appear to be regular misidenti- 
fications, not only involving Common Loons 
but also juvenile Red-throated Loons showing 
strong cap/face contrast and a dusky upper 
neck that might be misinterpreted as being a 
chin strap. These Red-throateds (and some 
Commons) routinely show whitish flanks and 
have been mis-reported as Arctic Loons as 
well, although none has been photographed. 
Gulls 
There has been a well publicized and variably 
documented explosion in the number of ex- 
tralimital gulls being found in all corners of 
North America. We’re already moving past 
the incredible surge in coast-to-coasl reports 
of Slaty-backed Gulls, almost shrugging our 
shoulders at yet more and more reports from 
areas where the species’ occurrence would 
have been unthinkable just ten years ago (al- 
though some paler-mantled individuals iden- 
tified as “Slaty-backeds” may be debatable). 
We appear now to be entering a veritable 
flood of reports of Vega Gulls in many re- 
gions, “European” Herring Gulls along the 
East Coast, Heuglin’s Gulls in the West, Ice- 
land Gulls in the West, Kamchatka Mew 
Gulls in the East, and the list goes on. 
Lehman admits that lie is somewhat of a cur- 
mudgeon when it comes to a fair number of 
(but certainly not all!) such reports, particu- 
larly those not documented with a plethora of 
photographs. He is a great fan of the saying, 
“If you hear hoof-beats, think horses, not ze- 
bras,” and we both wonder how many reports 
of these birds might, just might, be something 
else. Within the larger, white-headed gulls, 
there is of course a staggering amount of vari- 
ation possible within a single taxon (e.g., 
Vega Gull), and there is widespread hy- 
bridization going on. We’d use the term ram- 
pant to describe some levels of hybridization 
among the large gull species in the Bering Sea 
VOLUME 63 (2009) 
NUMBER 1 
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