|THE changing SEASONS: CORNUCOPIA 
Quebec 22-24 October. Monitoring programs 
also had several remarkable multi-day tallies, 
including 811 Alder Flycatchers banded dur- 
ing the season at Teslin Lake and 202 banded 
at Albert Creek, Yukon and 200 of the declin- 
ing Loggerhead Shrike in southeastern Ore- 
gon during four days in August. 
in brief 
• Interesting hybrids found in fall 2008 in- 
cluded single Dunlin x White-rumped Sand- 
pipers in both Massachusetts and Ontario and 
a Boreal Chickadee x Mountain Chickadee in 
the Yukon. 
• Following what seemed to be a strong trend 
of ever-increasing numbers of fall Sabine’s 
Gulls inland, the species seemed to be in re- 
duced numbers across much of the interior this 
season, with above-average counts noted only 
in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona. 
• Los Angeles became the first county in the 
United States to reach the 500 species mile- 
stone with the appearance of a Barrow’s Gold- 
eneye in November. 
• Yet another outbreak of avian botulism on 
several of the Great Lakes was thought to be 
moderate rather than extreme this year. 
• A particularly impressive flight of Golden 
Eagles was recorded from Ontario eastward. 
Large numbers of Franklin’s Gulls — almost 
certainly related to a strong low-pressure sys- 
tem from the central Great Plains — turned up 
in Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois in ear- 
ly November. The same period saw a number 
of interesting Great Plains waterbirds and 
landbirds at Point Pelee and other sites in 
southwestern Ontario. 
• A House Crow (Corvus splendens) was 
found in Norfolk, Virginia, undoubtedly a 
ship-assisted bird that arrived at the large 
naval base and commercial port located a mile 
or so away. An individual showing evidence 
of confinement turned up in Louisiana last 
spring. This species, found from southern 
Asia to the Middle East, is known to ride 
ships and to colonize port cities well outside 
its normal range. 
• Studies using radio-tagged birds are making 
a staggering number of fascinating discover- 
ies. A Golden Eagle in western Virginia in 
March 2008 was tracked to Maine and the At- 
lantic Provinces during the summer, and then 
back to western Virginia in early October and 
then into West Virginia in early November. A 
Whimbrel was followed from Washington 
state almost due east to Wisconsin, where it 
perished, while another tagged Whimbrel left 
Virginia 17 August and arrived on Mayaguana 
Island, Bahamas 3 September, where it re- 
mained until 26 September — surviving Hurri- 
canes Hanna and Ike — and arrived in Guyana 
30 September. Two Marbled Godwits were 
tracked from the isolated nesting area on 
Akimiski Island in southern James Bay to 
southeastern Colorado. 
Final Thoughts 
Much has been written during the past year or 
two (e.g.. Irons and Fix 2008) on the effects — 
both positive and negative — of the Internet on 
our birding culture, rare-bird documentation, 
the recording, submission, and storage of avian 
data, and on the future of printed journals 
such as North American Birds. The explosions 
in Internet use and in digital photography are 
combining to cause a substantial decline (as a 
relative percent, and probably as an absolute 
number) in the written reports and documen- 
tation being received directly by many region- 
al editors of North American Birds and by many 
of the state and provincial bird records com- 
mittees. A major goal of all birders should be 
to see that we gather and publish (in several 
possible forms) accurate, vetted sightings in a 
user-friendly way and in a thoughtful regional 
and historical perspective. The debate will 
continue as to what extent online sightings 
posted on various listservs should be included 
in the North American Birds database. Clearly, 
there is a lot of chaff in all the wheat out there 
on the Internet. But if one simply ignores all 
such indirect reports, then today’s published 
records in North American Birds will be woe- 
fully incomplete. As many observers as possi- 
ble need to understand the value of vetted ma- 
terial. Hopefully, birders in the twenty-first 
century care enough to see this process main- 
tained. Regional editors and others can help by 
writing to those very same listservs, making 
the case that such vetted material in a careful- 
ly edited published form is extremely valuable. 
The regional editors also need to make the re- 
porting mechanism as user-friendly as possi- 
ble. One little thing that makes a huge differ- 
ence is to always acknowledge receipt of mate- 
rial received — something that is so easy to do 
by email. Such a response also helps to double- 
check that reports are indeed received, but 
more importantly it generates untold amounts 
of good will. 
Acknowledgments 
Helpful comments on an earlier draft were pro- 
vided by Larry R. Ballard, P. A. Buckley, Yann 
Kolbeinsson, Barbara Carlson, Matt Heindel, 
Curtis Marantz, Steve Miodinow, Brad Schram, 
Marshall Iliff, and Alan Wormington. 
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