EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK 
bility of advocating a split in this group— -and 
if split, then how it should fall. Looking back 
on a century of writing about the Leach’s 
group, in which new taxonomy has been pro- 
posed more than a dozen times, one gets the 
sense that this discussion may continue for 
many years to come, as is true for many 
groups of tubenoses. We are delighted to 
bring the article to our readers’ attention as a 
cutting-edge attempt to synchronize the au- 
thors’ study of the literature, of the specimen 
record, and of many thousands of birds in the 
field. We look forward to the conversation on 
this complex in the seasons to come. 
This article is dedicated to the memory of 
our dear colleague and friend, Luke Cole, 
who was as stalwart and enthusiast a seabird- 
er as ever there was. We are so sorry that 
Luke is not among us to add his brilliance 
and his companionship to sorting out seabird 
enigmas and to oceangoing adventures, but 
we are so grateful to have spent part of our 
lives with him — his warmth included and 
touched everyone who met him, and he is 
very much missed by his North American 
Birds family. A memorial piece will be includ- 
ed in a future issue of this journal. 
Search our 
online database 
www.aba.org/festivals 
American Binding 
ASSOCIATION 
Corrigenda 
We owe an apology to Pete Moulton, whose 
image of the Eurasian Teal from Arizona 
(North American Birds 63: 304) was mis-cred- 
ited. Another waterfowl gaffe: the image of the 
swan published in the recent winter Texas re- 
port (North American Birds 63: 290) was in 
fact a Trumpeter, not a Tundra, and was more- 
over a bird from Tennessee (and correctly cap- 
tioned in that report). An editorial insertion 
into the South Atlantic regional spring re- 
port — namely that a Sandhill Crane found 
near Beaufort, North Carolina “was in an area 
where escaped cranes have been noted since at 
least 1999” — was misleading. John Fussell re- 
ports that although “not all the birds in 1999 
were recaptured,” “wintering birds (usually 
consisting of family groups of three, present 
from about November to March) have become 
regular enough here that I would not assume 
that a bird here in May is likely related to the 
1999 birds. 1 have never seen a crane here in 
summer (June through mid-October).” Given 
how regular the species has become in the 
East, and in winter in the Southeast, the im- 
plication that cranes in southeastern North 
Carolina might have a few feral birds among 
them is thus probably incorrect. We thank Do- 
minic Sherony, John Fussell, and Paul Lehman 
for bringing these items to our attention. 
— Edward S. Brinkley 
CONNECTIONS 
The ABA'S online 
birder resource 
:o travel companies 
and destinations 
as well as birding 
products and 
equipment. 
For rates and information, 
go to the ABA website at 
www.aba.org/netconnection: 
www.aba.brg 
STANDARD 
ABBREVIATIONS AND 
SYMBOLS USED IN THE 
REGIONAL REPORTS 
* 
specimen collected 
+ 
bird(s) seen through end of period 
t 
written details on file 
A.F.B. 
Air Force Base 
acc. 
accepted by records committee 
A.R.C 
Avian Records Committee 
b. 
banded 
B.B.S. 
Breeding Bird Survey 
B.O. 
Bird Observatory 
B.R.C. 
Bird Records Committee 
C.A. 
Conservation Area 
C.B.C. 
Christmas Bird Count 
CP. 
County Park 
cm 
centimeter(s) 
Cr. 
Creek 
Ft. 
Fort 
6.C. 
Golf Course 
G.P. 
Game Preserve 
Hwy. 
Highway 
I.(i5.) 
Island(s), Isle(s) 
imm. (imms.) 
immaturefs) 
Jet. 
Junction 
juv. (juvs.) 
juvenal [plumage]; juvenile(s) 
km 
kiiometer(s) 
L. 
Lake 
mm 
millimeter(s) 
m.ob. 
many (or multiple) observers 
Mt. (Mts.) 
Mount/Mountain (Mountains) 
N.A. 
Nature Area, Natural Area 
N.F. 
National Forest 
N.M. 
National Monument 
N.P. 
National Park 
N.S. 
National Seashore 
N.W.R. 
National Wildlife Refuge 
p.a. 
pending acceptance 
P.P. 
Provincial Park 
Pen. 
Peninsula 
ph. 
photographed (by + initials) 
Pt. 
Point (not Port) 
R. 
River 
R.A. 
Recreation(al) Area 
R.B.A. 
Rare Bird Alert 
R.P. 
Regional Park 
R.S. 
Regional Shoreline 
Res. 
Reservoir 
Rte. 
Route 
S.B. 
State Beach 
S.F. 
State Forest 
S.G.A. 
State Game Area 
S.R 
State Park 
S.R.A. 
State Recreation Area 
S.R. 
State Reserve 
S.W.A. 
State Wildlife Area 
S.T.P. 
Sewage Treatment Plant/Pond 
subad. (subads.) 
subadult(s) 
Twp. 
Township 
v.r. 
voice recording (by -i- initials) 
vt. 
videotape (by + initials) 
W.A. 
Wildlife Area 
VV.M.A. 
Wildlife Management Area 
W.T.P. 
(Waste)water Treatment Plant/Pond 
Italics indicate name of county, parish, or municipality. 
VOLUME 63 (2009) • NUMBER 4 
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