PICTORIAL HIGHLIGHTS 
1 • The dark-billed Great Egret found at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in May 2008 apparently 
moved southward to False Cape State Park, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in July or early August. This bird (here 
1 6 August) had begun losing some of the black coloration on the bill, as is typical of Old World subspecies 
after the breeding season. Photograph by Edwards. Brinkley. 
2 • This biack-backed male Lesser Goldfinch at Wilmington, Delaware 3 August 2008 represented a first 
record for the state and one of few for the East. Photograph by Maria McCutcheon. 
3 • Foretelling a winter invasion, this Snowy Owl turned up on the Maryland side of Assateague Island 8 
November 2008. Photograph by George Jett. 
4 • The remarkable, and remarkably well-birded, Central Park in Manhattan, New York produced yet another 
pear! in fall 2008, this Black-throated Gray Warbler on 21 September. Although some western warblers 
found in the East turn up in the late-season (late October through November) "vagrancy" period. New York 
has September records for this species as well as Townsend's Warbler. Photograph by Deborah Allen. 
5 • This photograph, taken 30 October 2007, shows three American Flamingos at Altamira, Tamaulipas, 
Mexico, including a small bird different from those in Figure 6. Photograph by Rogelio Arteaga Ruiz. 
6 • In autumn 2008, observations of one Greater and up to four American Flamingos in Altamira, Tamaulipas 
raised greater awareness about the rarity of flamingos in this area and thus brought to light several older 
documentation of both species in Tamaulipas. This photograph shows three American Flamingos and a 
Greater (an escapee); the image was taken 5 December 2006 (the earliest of several such records). 
Photograph by Alejandro Fierro Cabo. 
7 • This nicely documented juvenile Common Ringed Plover at Iqaluit, Nunavut 12 August 2008 shows black- 
ish lores that extend to the gape; the "mask" in Semipalmated Plover extends to a point above the gape. 
Photograph by Bruce Di Labio. 
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NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
