ABA Checklist Committee report, 2007-2008

B I R D I N G N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 832

During the preceding 12 months, theCLC finalized votes on 10 species, all ofwhich were accepted and added to the ABAChecklist. The number of accepted specieson the Checklist now totals 957.

We previously reported that we wereworking with David Hartley, the ABAs web-master, to post many CLC files onto ABAswebsite. These files are now available forperusal online . Ad-ditionally, members of the CLC, as-sisted by many birders and ornithol-ogists, have finalized the manuscriptof the seventh edition of the ABAChecklist. The manuscript is now in thecopy-editing/layout phase, with an expect-ed publication date of late 2008. This newedition of the Checklist will supersede the

sixth edition, which was published in 2002and has been out of print for two years.

New Species AcceptedGraylag Goose(Anser anser)ABA CLC Record #2008-05. One individualon a stationary drilling ship in the AtlanticOcean at 464501 N, 484690 W, ap-

proximately 167 nautical miles east-southeast of St. Johns, Newfoundlandand Labrador, 24 April2 May 2005(Maybank 2005). Discovered and

photographed by drill-ship workers,whose names are now lost. Accepted

unanimously by the Newfoundland BirdCommittee and the CLC. The remote loca-tion, occurrence during spring migration,

Annual Reportof the ABAChecklist Committee

20072008

This is the 19th published report of the ABA Checklist Committee (CLC),

covering the period July 2007June 2008. There have been no changes to

the committee membership since our previous report (Pranty et al.

2007). In October 2007, Lehman and Pranty were elected to their second four-

year terms, and Pranty was reelected as Chairman for a third year.

W W W . A B A . O R G 33

and lack of bands allcontributed to thestrong likelihood thatthis bird was a natural-ly occurring vagrant.

The Graylag Gooseis a polytypic speciesthat breeds from Ice-land to the Russian FarEast. Northern popu-lations are highly mi-gratory, winteringsouth to the Mediter-ranean and northernAfrica, as well as fromthe Middle East tosouthern China. Oneof the few breedingspecies of Iceland thathad not yet beenrecorded in the ABA Area, the GraylagGoose was expected to be found here even-tually. Note that Graylag Geeseoften aswhite morphsare common on farms andin waterfowl collections, and that there arenumerous breeding reports of feral GraylagGeese in the ABA Area, but that no popula-tion is known to be established.

Graylag Goose is added to the ABAChecklist as a Code 5species, provisionallyplaced between Pink-footed Goose andGreater White-frontedGoose.

White-chinned Petrel(Procellariaaequinoctialis)ABA CLC Record#2007-01, a reevalua-tion of a previous CLCrecord (DeBenedictis1994). One individualfound moribund twomiles north of RolloverPass, Galveston Coun-ty, Texas, 27 April 1986was sent to a rehabili-tation center, where it

was misidentified as aSooty Shearwater. Thebird was pho-tographed alive by Al-lan Mueller, but it lat-er died and the carcasswas discarded. Thebird was correctlyidentified four yearslater by Greg Lasleyand Willie Sekula af-ter examination of thephotographs. TheTexas Bird RecordsCommittee (TBRC)twice voted on thisrecord; first, the TBRCunanimously rejectedthe bird as a SootyShearwater; second,

the TBRC unanimously accepted the birdas a White-chinned Petrel.

In 1992, the CLC accepted the identifica-tion of the Texas bird as a White-chinnedPetrel, but two members were concernedwith the proximity of the bird to one ofthe major seaports in the UnitedStates...where the possibility of ship-assist-ed transport seems especially high, as well

as with the problemthat the Gulf of Mexi-co would seem espe-cially unsuitable for aspecies that preferscolder waters(DeBenedictis 1994).The CLC chose in2007 to reevaluate thisrecord on the basis ofits recent reevalua-tions of Light-mantledAlbatross and Swal-low-tailed Gull, twoother Southern Hemi-sphere seabirds re-corded in the ABAArea (Pranty et al.2007). In this regard,the Texas bird remainsthe only verified

Bill Pranty8515 Village Mill Row

Bayonet Point, Florida 34667

[email protected]

Jon L. DunnR.R. 2, Box 52R

Bishop, California 93514

[email protected]

Steven C. HeinlP.O. Box 23101

Ketchikan, Alaska 99901

[email protected]

Andrew W. KratterFlorida Museum of Natural History

P.O. Box 117800

University of Florida

Gainesville, Florida 32611

[email protected]

Paul E. Lehman11192 Portobelo Drive

San Diego, California 92124

[email protected]

Mark W. Lockwood402 East Harriet Avenue

Alpine, Texas 79830

[email protected]

Bruce Mactavish37 Waterford Bridge Road

St. Johns, Newfoundland A1E IC5

[email protected]

Kevin J. Zimmer1665 Garcia

Atascadero, California 93422

[email protected]

CHANGES IN BRIEF

New Species Accepted: Graylag Goose White-chinned Petrel Townsends Shearwater Tristrams Storm-Petrel Brown Hawk-Owl Loggerhead Kingbird Sedge Warbler Song Thrush Common Myna Yellow-browed Bunting

Although a common fixture at barnyardsand in waterfowl collections, this GraylagGoose on a drilling ship 167 nautical miles

off St. Johns, Newfoundland 24 April2May 2005 provided the first ABA record ofa presumed naturally-occurring vagrant.Off St. Johns, Newfoundland & Labrador;

1 May 2005. Photographer unknown.

C H E C K L I S T R E P O R T

record of a White-chinned Petrel north of the equator, al-though Howell (2006) describes three additional reportsfrom North American waters. The CLC also noted the ex-istence of a specimen record of Stejnegers Petrel from PortAransas, Texas, 15 September 1995, that was considered tobe of natural occurrence. The CLC voted to accept theWhite-chinned Petrel as a naturally occurring vagrant dur-ing two rounds of voting, 6-2 and 7-1, with the dissentingvotes expressing diminishing concern that the bird likelyhad ridden aboard a ship for at least part of its journey.

The White-chinned Petrel is a polytypic species thatbreeds on several southern islands or island groups, such asthe Antipodes, Auckland, Campbell, the Crozets, the Ker-guelens, Prince Edward, and South Georgia. Outside thebreeding season, it ranges widely through the southernoceans north in the New World to Peru and northern Ar-gentina. Howell (2006) providesinformation and many photo-graphs of the worlds black pe-trels, including this species.

White-chinned Petrel is addedto the ABA Checklist as a Code 5species, placed between BulwersPetrel and Parkinsons Petrel.

Townsends Shearwater(Puffinus auricularis)ABA CLC Record #2008-07. Oneindividual that dive-bombedworkers at Del Mar, San DiegoCounty, California, during theearly morning of 1 August 2007was eventually captured byCharles Swanson and taken to arehabilitation center the follow-ing day, where it was extensivelyphotographed and measured.Originally thought to be a Manx

34

Three species of Procellariiformes are added to the ABA Checklist in this report, and two of themare from California. This Townsends Shearwater of the newelli group, an endemic breeder of

Hawaii, was picked up in San Diego County and taken to a rehabilitation center. Originallythought to be a Manx Shearwater, it was correctly identified based on measurement data

and plumage characteristics. Del Mar, California; 5 August 2007. Matt Sadowski.


Shearwater (P. puffinus),the bird was correctlyidentified by Philip Unittbased on measurementdata and plumage charac-teristics (Unitt et al.2008). Accepted unani-mously by the CaliforniaBird Records Committee(CBRC) and the CLC.

The Townsends Shear-water is a polytypicspecies that comprises

two groups (auricularis and newelli) that may representseparate species. The auricularis group breeds solely inthe Revillagigedo Islands off western Mexico, and itranges at sea from southern Baja California to ClippertonIsland, and along the western coast of Mexico south toOaxaca (AOU 1998). The newelli group, which would becalled Newells Shearwater if considered a separatespecies, breeds solely on the Hawaiian Islands, principallyat Kauai, and it ranges at sea primarily near the HawaiianIslands (AOU 1998). The California bird has been identi-fied as representing the newelli group, based on the whitebasal and black distal pattern of its undertail coverts(Unitt et al. 2008).

Townsends Shearwater is added to the ABA Checklist asa Code 5 species, placed between Manx Shearwater andBlack-vented Shearwater.

This White-chinned Petrel was found in the surf nearGalveston, Texas, on 27 April 1986. It was taken to a wildliferehabilitation center, where it was photographed alive. Thebird later died, and its carcass was discarded. Originallymisidentified as a Sooty Shearwater, the bird was correctlyidentified several years later after an examination of photo-graphs. The small white chin patch, which is diagnostic forWhite-chinned Petrel, is clearly visible in this photograph.The ABA Checklist Committee voted in 1992 to relegatethis record to its Origin Uncertain category, a categorythat has been eliminated. Fifteen years later, the CLCreevaluated this record and decided that it likely repre-sents a naturally occurring vagrant, still the only verifiedrecord for the northern hemisphere. Galveston, Texas;27 April 1986. Allan J. Mueller.

Tristrams Storm-Petrel(Oceanodroma tristrami)ABA CLC Record #2008-08.One individual captured atnight during mist-netting andbanding operations of AshyStorm-Petrels at Southeast Far-allon Island, California, 22April 2006. The bird was pho-tographed, measured, and re-leased by Russ Bradley andPete Warzybok, two biologistsfrom Point Reyes Bird Obser-vatory. Initially presumed to bea Black Storm-Petrel (O. mela-nia), the bird was later identi-fied as Tristrams Storm-Petrelby Steve Howell, Peter Pyle,and others after detailed analy-sis of the photographs andmeasurements, coupled withexamination of specimens ofother large, dark Oceanodromaspecies, such as Black Storm-Petrel, Markhams Storm-Pe-trel (O. markhami), and Mat-sudairas Storm-Petrel (O. mat-sudairae). The identification ofTristrams Storm-Petrel was confirmed by the combinationof large size and overall bulk, long wing chord, deeplyforked tail, and dark primary shafts on the upperwing(Warzybok et al. 2008). Accepted unanimously by theCBRC and the CLC.

Tristrams Storm-Petrel is a monotypic species thatbreeds in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands and the SevenIslands of Izu and the Volcano Islands, both part of Japan,and it ranges at sea from the Hawaiian Islands west toJapanese waters and the Bonin Islands (AOU 1998).

Tristrams Storm-Petrel is added to the ABAChecklist as a Code 5 species, placed between LeastStorm-Petrel and White-tailed Tropicbird.

Brown Hawk-Owl(Ninox scutulata)ABA CLC Record #2008-03. One individual at St.Paul, St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, 27August3 September 2007. Discovered and pho-tographed by Jake Mohlmann, and observed byabout 15 others. Identified conclusively by thecombination of dark-brown plumage, heavilystreaked underparts, and yellow irides. The birds

remote location and its lack of bands or jessessuggest that it was not an escaped captive.Accepted unanimously by the Alaska Check-list Committee (ACC) and the CLC.

The Brown Hawk-Owl is a polytypicspecies that breeds from India to the RussianFar East and Japan, south through mainlandSoutheast Asia to Indonesia. Northern popu-lations are migratory, wintering as far southas Indonesia. Eleven subspecies are recog-nized, with N. s. japonica, the one breeding insouthern Korea and Japan (OSJ 2000), occur-ring closest to the ABA Area and presumablyrepresenting the Alaska record (Gibson2008). The Brown Hawk-Owl was not ex-pected as a vagrant to the ABA Area.

Brown Hawk-Owl is added to the ABAChecklist as a Code 5 species, provisionallyplaced between Northern Saw-whet Owl andStygian Owl. Note that Brown Hawk-Owl (inthe speciose genus Ninox, with the bulk of itsdiversity in the Pacific Rim and Pacific Is-lands biomes) and Northern Hawk Owl (inthe monotypic Holarctic genus Surnia) arenot closely related, a difference that is hintedat by the different orthographies for the twonames (Hawk-Owl vs. Hawk Owl).

Loggerhead Kingbird(Tyrannus caudifasciatus)ABA CLC Record #2007-07. One after-hatch-year individ-ual at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, Key West, MonroeCounty, Florida, 726 March 2007. Discovered and pho-tographed by Carl Goodrich, and observed by hundredsduring its stay. The combination of blackish cap and graymantle, conspicuous pale edging to the tertials andcoverts, and dark tail lacking white on the tips of the out-er rectrices ruled out other kingbirds. Accepted unani-

W W W . A B A . O R G 35

This Tristrams Storm-Petrel provided thesecond recent addition to the ABA Checklistfrom California. The bird, captured during

nighttime banding operations of AshyStorm-Petrels, was presumed to be a Black

Storm-Petrel. Too large to band, the birdwas measured and photographed, then re-leased. It was correctly identified months

later, on the heels of an examination of thephotographs and measurement data, alongwith comparison with museum specimens.

Southeast Farallon Island, California;22 April 2006. Russ Bradley.

The first of three birds added tothe ABA Checklist from Alaskaduring fall 2007 was this BrownHawk-Owl, a native of the RussianFar East and points south. Thespecies was not anticipated tooccur in the ABA Area, but north-ern populations are migratory. Theremote location likely rules out anescaped captiveand also pre-vented all but a few observersfrom seeing this bird during itsstay, 27 August3 September 2007.St. Paul Island, Alaska; 27 August2007. Jake Mohlmann.


mously by the Florida Ornithological Society RecordsCommittee (FOSRC) and the CLC.

The Loggerhead Kingbird is a resident of the northernBahamas, Greater Antilles,and Grand Cayman Island. Inthe case of the Floridarecords, four of the seven rec-ognized subspecies of Log-gerhead Kingbird can beruled out on the basis ofplumage. The remainingthree subspeciescaudifas-ciatus of mainland Cuba,flavescens from the Isle ofYouth, Cuba, and caymanen-sis of Grand Caymanaresimilar in appearance, butbased on an analysis by Jon

Greenlaw (personal communication), the Key West birdmost resembles caudifasciatus, which may be the sub-species expected on geographical grounds. Smith et al.(2000) provide information on previous reports of the Log-gerhead Kingbird from Floridaall now discountedaswell as identification criteria and many photographs. Morerecently, a second Loggerhead Kingbird (pending accept-ance by the FOSRC) was photographed in Florida, at DryTortugas National Park, during March 2008.

Loggerhead Kingbird is added to the ABA Checklist as aCode 5 species, placed between Gray Kingbird and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.

Sedge Warbler(Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)ABA CLC Record #2008-01. One hatch-year individual atGambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, 30 September 2007.Discovered and photographed by Paul Lehman and GaryRosenberg (Rosenberg and Lehman 2008) and not seenagain. Characters visible in the photographs clearly ruleout Aquatic Warbler (A. paludicola), which is more yellow-ish overall, and has bold pale streaking on the back, streak-ing on the flanks and rump, and pale lores, and Mous-tached Warbler (A. melanopogon), which has a shorter pri-mary extension and brighter rufous in the nape and back,and lacks dark spotting or streaking on the breast (Rosen-berg and Lehman 2008). Accepted unanimously by theACC and the CLC.

Sedge Warbler is a monotypic species that breeds acrossnorthern Eurasia. It is highly migratory, wintering primari-ly in sub-Saharan Africa. It was considered to be an unlike-ly stray to the ABA Area, but its breeding range does notdiffer substantially from those of several other species thathave strayed to the region, such as Lesser Whitethroat,Spotted Flycatcher, and Wood Warbler.

Sedge Warbler is added to the ABA Checklist as a


Loggerhead Kingbird has a checkered history on the ABAChecklist. There were several sight reports and at least two

photographs from southern Florida beginning in the 1970s,but these have subsequently been discounted. Loggerhead

Kingbird was not illustrated in any North American fieldguide until the 1980s. This unquestioned Loggerhead King-

bird thus provided the first accepted record for the ABA Area,and it was enjoyed by hundreds of observers during its

lengthy stay, 726 March 2007. Fort Zachary Taylor State Park,Key West, Florida; 8 March 2007. Carl Goodrich.

Like many other vagrants to St.Lawrence Island, Alaska, this Sedge

Warbler was found in one of theboneyards around Gambell. These

boneyards are burial sites for dis-carded bones of marine mammals or

birds, and their rich soil supportslush growth during summer and fall,

which in turn provides cover for ahost of both regularly occurring and

vagrant landbirds. This Sedge War-bler was found and documented by

the only two observers on the islandduring its one-day stay. Gambell, St.Lawrence Island, Alaska; 30 Septem-

ber 2007. Gary H. Rosenberg.

Code 5 species, placed be-tween Lanceolated War-bler and Willow Warbler.

Song Thrush(Turdus philomelos)ABA CLC Record #2007-06. One hatch-year indi-vidual at Saint-Fulgence,Quebec, 1117 November2006 (Auchu et al. 2007).Discovered and pho-tographed by Claude Sam-son and Diane Ct intheir yard, and subse-quently observed by oth-ers. There is no formallyconstituted bird recordscommittee for Quebec, butlocal ornithologists unani-mously agreed with theidentification (P. Bannon,personal communication),as did the CLC. Thespecies is not proven to be kept in captivity in North Amer-ica, and coupled with the seasonal occurrence and its lackof bands, the Quebec bird was presumed to be a naturallyoccurring vagrant.

The Song Thrush is a breeding resident from GreatBritain, Scandinavia, and northern Spain east to Lake Baikalin southern Siberia.Northern populationsare highly migratory,wintering in westernEurope, northernAfrica, and the MiddleEast. Song Thrushes areregular migrants to Ice-land, mostly during Oc-tober and November,with 38 individualsfound there during fall2006 (Auchu et al.2007). The species wasanticipated to occur inthe ABA Area, but morelikely in Nova Scotia orNewfoundland andLabrador than in Que-bec.

Song Thrush is added

to the ABA Checklist as aCode 5 species, placed be-tween Redwing and Clay-colored Thrush.

Common Myna(Acridotheres tristis)ABA CLC Record #2008-04. Ratified as an estab-lished exotic based on apopulation in Florida(Pranty 2008). Acceptedunanimously by the FOS-RC, and 7-1 by the CLC.The dissenting CLC voteindicated concern that thepopulation was not largeenough to be consideredestablished.

In its native range, theCommon Myna is residentfrom the Caspian Sea re-gion and Kazakhstansouth through the Indian

subcontinent and east through Southeast Asia. Exotic pop-ulations of the nominate subspecies occur widely from ac-cidental and deliberate releases, and are found in Florida,South Africa, Madagascar, Australia, New Zealand, HongKong, and several Pacific island chains, including Hawaii.

The population in Florida was discovered and noted

W W W . A B A . O R G 37

This hatch-year Song Thrush furnished a first for the ABA Area.Present in a suburban back yard, it was not identified until the end

of its 1117 November 2006 stay; consequently, few observers wereable to see it. Although expected to be found in North America

eventually, probably in Newfoundland or Nova Scotia, this individ-ual was found in Quebec. It was not likely an escaped captive, dueto its age, seasonal occurrence, and lack of bands. Saint-Fulgence,

Quebec; 16 November 2006. Claude Samson.

Of the 957 species currently onthe ABA Checklist, 936 (98%) arenative to the ABA Area or have

naturally strayed from other re-gions. Very few exotic species

have been added to the Check-list, and five of these have been

removed because their NorthAmerican populations have

been extirpated. Thus, there isalways trepidation when theCommittee votes to add an-

other exotic to the ABA Check-list. The Common Myna has amoderately large and greatly

expanding population inFlorida, and the species has

successfully colonized manytemperate and tropical areasof the world. Based on thesefacts, the Committee consi-

ders the Common Mynato be established in the ABA

Area. Clewiston, Florida;27 April 2008. Bill Pranty.


to be breeding in the Miami area in 1982, andby 2007 had spread to 19 other counties in thestate. Mynas have been found in Florida up to500 kilometers from the Miami area, and thereis a report of an apparent Common Myna fromSapelo Island, Georgia, in May 2002 that likelyrepresents a disperser from Florida (Pranty2008). The size of the Florida population is notknown, but a roost of 400 Common Mynas wasfound at Florida City in November 2006 (Pran-ty 2008).

Common Myna is added to the ABA Checklistas a Code 2 species, placed between EuropeanStarling and Siberian Accentor.

Yellow-browed Bunting(Emberiza chrysophrys)ABA CLC Record #2008-02. One individual atGambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, 15 Sep-tember 2007. Discovered and photographed byPaul Lehman (Lehman 2008) and two others,and not seen again. This distinctly markedspecies was easily distinguished from other OldWorld buntings by its yellow lores and supercilia and rustyrump (Lehman 2008). Accepted unanimously by the ACCand the CLC.

Yellow-browed Bunting is a monotypic species thatbreeds in the central and southeastern Siberian taiga, andwinters in central and southeastern China. It is an annualvisitor to Japan (OSJ 2000, Lehman 2008). Thus, it wasconsidered by the committee to be a possible stray to theABA Area.

Yellow-browed Bunting is added to the ABA Checklist asa Code 5 species, provisionally placed between LittleBunting and Rustic Bunting.

Votes in Progress or AnticipatedThe CLC is presently voting on two species: Feas Petrelfrom North Carolina and Gray Gull from Louisiana. We an-ticipate voting on reports from 2008 of Swinhoes Storm-Petrel from North Carolina, White-crested Elaenia fromTexas, and Rufous-tailed Robin from Alaska, provided thatthe records pass local review.

AcknowledgmentsWe thank Bruce H. Anderson for helping to track downseveral literature citations for this report.

Literature CitedAmerican Ornithologists Union [AOU]. 1998. The A.O.U. Check-list of North Amer-

ican Birds, seventh edition. American Ornithologists Union, Washington.

Auchu, C., C. Girard, and G. Savard. 2007. First record of Song Thrush (Turdus

philomelos) in North America. North American Birds 61:1012.

DeBenedictis, P.A. 1994. ABA Checklist report, 1992. Birding 26:92102.

Gibson, D.D. 2008. First New World record of Brown Hawk Owl (Ninox scutula-

ta). Western Birds in press.

Howell, S.N.G. 2006. Identification of black petrels, genus Procellaria. Birding

40:5264.

Lehman, P.E. 2008. First North American record of Yellow-browed Bunting (Em-

beriza chrysophrys) at Gambell, Alaska. North American Birds in press.

Maybank, B. 2005. Atlantic Provinces & St. Pierre et Miquelon [spring 2005 re-

port]. North American Birds 59:396399.

Ornithological Society of Japan [OSJ]. 2000. Check-List of Japanese Birds, sixth

revised edition. Kinokuniya Company, Tokyo.

Pranty, B. 2008. Status and distribution of the Common Myna in Florida. North

American Birds 61:658665.

Pranty, B., J.L. Dunn, S.C. Heinl, A.W. Kratter, P.E. Lehman, M.W. Lockwood, B.

Mactavish, and K.J. Zimmer. 2007. Annual report of the ABA Checklist Com-

mittee: 2006. Birding 39:2431.

Rosenberg, G.H., and P.E. Lehman. 2008. First North American record of Sedge

Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) at Gambell, Alaska. North American

Birds in press.

Smith, P.W., G.E. Woolfenden, and A. Sprunt, IV. 2000. The Loggerhead Kingbird

in Florida: The evidence revisited. North American Birds 54:235240.

Unitt, P., M.A. Faulkner, and C. Swanson. 2008. First record of Newells Shearwa-

ter from the mainland of North America. Western Birds in press.

Warzybok, P., R. Bradley, and S.N.G. Howell. 2008. First North American

record of Tristrams Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma tristrami). North American

Birds in press.


This Yellow-browed Bunting provided yet another first ABA-area recordfrom the Alaskan outpost of Gambell. Like the Sedge Warbler (p. 36), it was

found in one of the boneyards. Looking like a brightly colored cross be-tween a Savannah Sparrow and a White-throated Sparrow, this individual

was a one-day wonder that was seen by only three observers. Gambell,St. Lawrence Island, Alaska; 15 September 2007. Paul Mayer.

ABA Checklist Committee report, 2007-2008

Documents

Transcript of ABA Checklist Committee report, 2007-2008