THE CHANGING SEASONS: CORNUCOPIA 
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Figure 12. This vireo was initially identified as a Philadelphia Vireo, owing in part to the 
green back that contrasts with a rich gray crown. On closer examination of several images, 
the bill structure, relatively faint eye-line, and lack of yellow in the underparts identify it 
as a Warbling Vireo. This bird was present 17-25 (here 23) November 2008 in the backyard 
of Ronnie Maeko and Shari Jackson and was one two November Warbling Vireos in the 
Eastern Highlands & Upper Ohio River Valley region this season (and the third in the past 
five years). Warbling Vireos that nest in Ohio show much more uniformly gray-brown 
upperparts that contrast little with an only slightly darker crown. The combination of 
characters in this bird strongly suggest a Warbling Vireo of a western subspecies, which 
would be a first for Ohio. Photograph by Renee Tressler. 
Western hummingbirds in the East are now 
standard fare. As mentioned in several previ- 
ous Changing Seasons essays, we have long 
since ceased to be amazed by the numbers of 
Rufous and even Black-chinned Humming- 
birds found there in fall and winter. Calliopes 
are equally in the “expected” category (Vir- 
ginia finally verified its first, and an adult male 
Figure 1 3. In Barbados, three Eurasian Spoonbills were discovered 1 7 November 2008 — 
two in St. Lucy Parish (here 22 November) and another in St. Philip Parish; these two re- 
mained at least into January 2009. In the New World, all other records of this species are 
also from islands: Itilleq, Nanortalik, Greenland (4 October 1936), Buccoo, Tobago (3 No- 
vember 1986), Fernando de Noronha, off Brazil (ianuary-February 1999), St. Lucia 
(through 20 April 2008; see video at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltW1bd8oSlo>), 
and Antigua (25 February 2009 into spring; possibly the third bird from Barbados). Iceland 
has multiple records of the species: five records between 30 September and 8 October 
(1945, 1956, 1972, 1998, and 2005), but then a run in fall 2008 of at least three and as 
many as six birds 1 0 October-1 December. After Hurricane Andrew in August 1 992, a 
Eurasian Spoonbill escaped captivity from the Metro Zoo in Miami-Dade County, Florida 
and was relocated in Pinellas County in October 1993. Photograph by Eddie Massiah. 
was a particularly unusual 
age-class to turn up in Mas- 
sachusetts). We wonder 
where the next Broad-tailed, 
Allen’s (state first in Mis- 
souri), Anna’s (state first in 
South Dakota), Green Vio- 
letear (first in Quebec, belat- 
ed state first in Tennessee, 
fourth for Michigan), and 
even Buff-bellied or Green- 
breasted Mango might turn 
up. This season’s Broad- 
billed Hummingbirds were 
found in Arkansas, Con- 
necticut, Massachusetts, and 
North Carolina, the latter 
having been banded the pre- 
vious winter in South Car- 
olina! Also check out the 
surprising totals of hum- 
mers in the Trans-Pecos re- 
gion of western Texas. 
There is something about 
islands and peninsular tips 
at the continental end-of-the-line — both east 
and west — that concentrates the vagrants. 
Check out the Atlantic Provinces report and 
the “typical” excellent autumn haul of way- 
ward strays. The Farallon Islands off San 
Francisco saw the arrival of a Gray-tailed Tat- 
tler, two Baird’s Sparrows, and a likely Orien- 
tal Greenfinch. Western Alaska outposts, 
specifically Cambell and St. 
Paul, had a relatively slow 
fall in 2008 but nonetheless 
did attract a Solitary Snipe 
(first North American 
record). Black-tailed Gull, 
Brown Shrike, Stonechat, 
and several species that are 
proving to be annual at this 
season: Willow Warbler 
(two). Dusky Warbler (a 
record six, with two later in 
the season in northern Cali- 
fornia), Pechora Pipit (two), 
and Siberian Accentor 
(one). Some of the least-ex- 
pected birds to occur regu- 
larly in autumn on the 
Bering Sea islands are, in 
fact. North American 
strays — whether reverse- or 
mirror-image vagrants or 
just random wanderers — 
from as far away as southern 
British Columbia or farther. 
Wood Storks and Roseate 
Spoonbills were especially widespread in the 
lower Mississippi and Missouri River Valleys, 
with some found as far north to Ohio, Illinois, 
and Missouri. Records of Old World ardeids 
in the eastern West Indies (especially on Bar- 
bados) continue to amaze; this season, Barba- 
dos logged its third Purple Heron and three 
Eurasian Spoonbills (Figure 13). Should these 
birds move to the north and west at some 
point, birders in the East and on the Gulf 
coast should be mindful of these species, just 
as we stay alert for Little Egret, Western Reef- 
Heron — and just as birders in the middle 
twentieth century watched for Cattle Egrets. 
Indeed, the black-billed Great Egret from the 
Old World (nicknamed “Great White Egret” 
by local birders) in Virginia, which was relo- 
cated in August, may well have made first 
New World landfall in the Caribbean some- 
where. 
Many vagrants are found after the peak sea- 
son for regular migrants. Most eastern passer- 
ines peak along the West Coast in spring be- 
tween mid-May and mid-June, with a few 
found as late as early July, and the best month 
in autumn for many western vagrants in the 
East is November, But a few western strays 
may occur in the East as early as August, in- 
cluding Townsend’s and Black-throated Gray 
Warblers and Western Tanager. This season, a 
Townsend’s was in Ontario already in early 
August, and there are multiple September 
records of these western species in New York 
and adjacent states. 
High counts 
Some exceptional single-day concentrations 
noted during the autumn 2008 season includ- 
ed 100,000 Common Eiders in Maine; 10,000 
Common Mergansers in southern Quebec; 
tens of thousands of Western Grebes on Fort 
Peck Reservoir, Montana; 50,000 shearwaters 
off the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland; 
6000 Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels off Newport, 
Oregon; 80 American Bitterns heading out at 
dusk at Cape May, New Jersey; 90-100+ Swal- 
low-tailed Kites at a roost in Georgia; 255,641 
Broad-winged Hawks over Detroit (a known 
concentration point); 638 Peregrine Falcons 
at a hawkwatch in Florida; 8000 American 
Golden-Plovers at Salt Plains, Oklahoma; 
400,000 Wilson’s Phalaropes at Lake Albert, 
eastern Oregon (add that site to the Great Salt 
Lake and Mono Lake as major staging areas 
for this species), plus 10,000 Red-necked 
Phalaropes; 5000 Eastern Kingbirds at Red 
Slough, Oklahoma; a roost of 550,000 Barn 
Swallows at a single site in Oregon; and 
36,648 Common Redpolls at Tadoussac, 
VOLUME 63 (2009) • NUMBER 1 
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