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July 2009. There were no changes to committee membership since our previous report
(Pranty et al. 2008). Kevin Zimmer has been
elected to serve his second term (to expire at
the end of 2012), and Bill Pranty has been
reelected to serve as Chair for a fourth year.
During the preceding 13 months, the CLC finalized votes on five species. Four species were accepted
and added to the ABA Checklist, while one species
was removed. The number of accepted species on the
ABA Checklist is increased to 960. In January 2009,
the seventh edition of the ABA Checklist (Pranty et al.
2009) was published. Each species is numbered from
1 (Black-bellied Whistling-Duck) to 957 (Eurasian
Tree Sparrow); ancillary numbers will be inserted for
all new species, and these numbers will be included
in our annual reports. Production of the seventh edition of the ABA Checklist occupied much of Prantys
and Dunns time during the period, and this commitment helps to explain the relative paucity of votes
during 20082009 compared to our other recent annual reports.
38
WWW.ABA.ORG
Bill Pranty
Crowned Slaty-Flycatcher
(Empidonomus aurantioatrocristatus). ABA CLC Record
#2009-03. One adult male photographed alive and then collected at Peveto Beach Woods,
Cameron Parish, Louisiana on 3 June 2008.
The bird was observed alive solely by Paul
Conover and Buford Myers (Conover and
Myers 2009). Identified by its size (equivalent to an Eastern Phoebe); pale gray face
and underparts with a yellowish tinge to the
vent and undertail coverts; gray-brown
back and wing coverts; blackish lores, eye
patch, and auriculars separated from the
blackish crown by a gray supercilium; and
blackish soft parts. The specimen, prepared
as a study skin (LSUMNS #180361 at
Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science), was heavily worn with no
molt, and had accumulated heavy fat deposits. Accepted unanimously by the
Louisiana Bird Records Committee
(Dittmann 2008) and by the CLC.
The Crowned Slaty-Flycatcher breeds
from Bolivia to Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay,
University of Florida
Jon L. Dunn
R.R. 2, Box 52R
Bishop, California 93514
Steven C. Heinl
P.O. Box 23101
Ketchikan, Alaska 99901
Andrew W. Kratter
Florida Museum of Natural History
P.O. Box 117800
Paul E. Lehman
11192 Portobelo Drive
San Diego, California 92124
Mark W. Lockwood
402 East Harriet Avenue
Alpine, Texas 79830
Bruce Mactavish
37 Waterford Bridge Road
St. Johns, Newfoundland A1E IC5
Kevin J. Zimmer
1665 Garcia
Atascadero, California 93422
39
After rejecting a previous record off North Carolina because the photographs were of marginal quality, the ABA Checklist Committee unanimously
accepted Swinhoes Storm-Petrel based on this well-photographed individual, shown here flanked by Wilsons Storm-Petrels. Records off the U.S.
Eastern Seaboard follow numerous records from the eastern Atlantic in
recent years. 65 kilometers east-southeast of Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina;
2 June 2008. Steve N. G. Howell.
Species Removed
40
adding White-crested ElaeThe CLC voted on two other species durnia based on the recent
ing July 2008July 2009 but did not
Texas record (see above),
Slaty-Flycatcher was recently added to the
reach consensus.
the committee could not Crowned
AOUs Check-list of North American Birds, based on one
First, the CLC was prepared to accept
accept an identification to photographed in Panama during December 2007. Soon
Feas Petrel (Pterodroma feae) based on
that genus, as had the thereafter, this South American resident also appeared in
one or more birds well-photographed off
FOSRC. Following the de- the ABA Area. The bird was collected almost immediately,
only the original two observers saw the bird live in
North Carolina in recent years. But the
cision by the FOSRC, the so
the field. Peveto Beach Woods, Cameron Parish, Louisiana;
CLC delayed final action because authors
CLC reconsidered the sta- 3 June 2008. Paul Conover.
of the recently published Petrels Night and
tus of Caribbean Elaenia.
Day (Robb and Mullarney 2008) have split the two populaAlthough one committee member believed that the Florida
tions of Feas Petrels into separate species: Feas Petrel (P. feae)
bird was indeed a Caribbean Elaenia based on the description
breeding on the Cape Verde Islands; and Desertas Petrel (P. deof the song, the CLC unanimously agreed to remove the
serta) breeding on the Desertas Islands about 1,200 miles to
species because the song was not audio-recorded.
In accepting this record originally as Caribbean Elaenia, the
the north. The AOU has not yet acted on this recommended
CLC relied heavily on commentary from John W.
split. Furthermore, quesFitzpatrick and Robert S. Ridgely. Fitzpatrick betions remain as to whether
lieved that on the basis of plumage, the Florida
at-sea identification between
bird could be one of only two species, Caribbean
Feas/Desertas Petrel and
Elaenia or White-crested Elaenia, but he was unZinos Petrel (P. madeira) is
willing to take the identification beyond that. In
unambiguous; see Shirihai
eliminating White-crested Elaenia, the CLC
(2009).
based its conclusion on a statement made by
Second, the CLC could
Robert Ridgely (personal commentary to Frank
not agree on whether a gull
Gill) that White-crested Elaenia could be elimiphotographed in Louisiana
nated by vocalizations. However, the Whitein December 1987 was a
crested Elaenia is a polytypic species composed
Gray Gull (Larus modesof six subspecies in three groups that may repretus) or a melanistic Laughsent two or more species (Rheindt et al. 2009),
ing Gull based on the two
and the described song of the highly migratory
photographs examined. The
subspecies E. albiceps chilensis (Jaramillo 2003,
record of this gull is not
Schulenberg et al. 2007) seems to resemble the A Mexican endemic that is expanding its range
accepted by the Louisiana
northward, Sinaloa Wren was expected to evendescription of the Florida elaenia. Ridgelys assess- tually appear in the ABA Area. What perhaps was
Bird Records Committee as
ment of the song of White-crested Elaenia did not not expected is that two separate Sinaloa Wrens
pertaining to Gray Gull
specify to which group or subspecies he referred, would be found within an eight-month period.
(Dittmann and Cardiff
and is thus ambiguous. Removal of Caribbean The first wren remained for more than a year,
2003). The CLC has thus
while the second wren, at Fort Huachuca, Arizona,
Elaenia (555) from the ABA Checklist brings the was present for a few days in April 2009. Patagofar been unsuccessful in
CLC in accordance with the American Ornithol- niaSonoita Creek Preserve, Santa Cruz County, Ari- tracking down other photoogists Union (AOU 1998), which does not accept zona; 28 September 2008. Brad Carlson.
graphs and an audio record-
WWW.ABA.ORG
41
Votes Underway
and Anticipated
Oriental
Greenfinch
(952) becomes Chloris sinica.
Literature Cited
42
Conover P.E., and B.M. Myers. 2009. First United States record of Crowned SlatyFlycatcher (Empidonomus aurantioatrocristatus) from Louisiana. North American Birds 62:638639.
DeCicco, L.H., S.C. Heinl, and D.W. Sonneborn. 2009. First North American
records of the Rufous-tailed Robin (Luscinia sibilans). Western Birds in press.
Dittmann, D., ed. 2008. Newsletter of the Louisiana Bird Records Committee, Annual Report 2008. <http://tiny.cc/5rF44>.
Dittmann, D.L., and S.W. Cardiff. 2003. Ninth report of the Louisiana Bird Records
Committee. Journal of Louisiana Ornithology 6:41101.
Flood, R.L. 2009. All-dark Oceanodroma storm-petrels in the Atlantic and
Gill, F.B. 1985. Report of the ABA Checklist Committee for 19841985. Birding
17:261265.
Reid, M., and D. Jones. 2009. First North American record of White-crested Elaenia (Elaenia albiceps chilensis) at South Padre Island, Texas. North American
Howell, S.N.G., and J.B. Patteson. 2008. A Swinhoes Petrel off North Carolina, USA,
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Central America. Oxford University Press, New York.
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Rheindt, F.E., L. Christidis, and J.A. Norman. 2009. Genetic introgression, incomplete lineage sorting, and faulty taxonomy create multiple cases of polyphyly in a montane clade of tyrant-flycatchers (Elaenia: Tyrannidae).
Kratter, A.W. in preparation. Eighteenth report of the Florida Ornithological Society Records Committee: 2008. Florida Field Naturalist.
Robb, M., and K. Mullarney. 2008. Petrels Night and Day. Sound Approach, Dorset.
Robb, R.R., D. Arendt, K. Larsen, and P. Sherrell. 2009. First North American record
LeGrand, H., and the North Carolina Bird Records Committee. 2001. 19992000
report of the North Carolina Bird Records Committee. Chat 65:8389.
OBrien, M., J.B. Patteson, G.L. Armistead, and G.B. Pearce. 1999. Swinhoes
Storm-Petrel: First North American photographic record. North American
Birds 53:610.
Lasley, and B. Mactavish. 2003. ABA Checklist Committee 2002 annual report.
Birding 35:138144.
Russell, S.M., and G. Monson. 1998. The Birds of Sonora, University of Arizona
Press, Tucson.
Schulenberg, T.S., D.S. Stotz, D.S. Lane, J.P. ONeill, and T.A. Parker III. 2007. Birds
of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Shirihai, H. 2009. The Zinos Petrel at sea, expedition IIand the best pelagic
birding in the western Palearctic. Birding World 22:204218.
Williams, S.O., S.A. King, S.M. Fettig, J.R. Oldenettel, and J.E. Parmeter. 2009. A
Pranty, B., J.L. Dunn, S.C. Heinl, A.W. Kratter, P.E. Lehman, M.W. Lockwood, B.
Mactavish, and K.J. Zimmer. 2009. ABA Checklist: Birds of the United States and
Sungrebe (Heliornis fulica) in New Mexico: A first for the United States. North
American Birds 63:49.
Wings
(new)
WWW.ABA.ORG
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