Richard C. Banks

Fifty-Second Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union check-list of North American Birds

The Auk, Vol. 128, Number 3, pages 600−613. ISSN 0004-8038, electronic ISSN 1938-4254.  2011 by The American Ornithologists’ Union. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals. com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/auk.2011.128.3.600 R. TeRRy ChesseR,1,12,13 RiChaRd C. Banks,1 F. keiTh BaRkeR,2 CaRla CiCeRo,3 Jon l. dunn,4 andRew w. kRaTTeR,5 iRBy J. loveTTe,6 Pamela C. Rasmussen,7 J. v. Remsen, JR.,8 James d. Rising,9 douglas F. sToTz,10 and kevin winkeR11

Fifty-First Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds

The Auk, Vol. 127, Number 3, pages 726−744. ISSN 0004-8038, electronic ISSN 1938-4254.  2010 by The American Ornithologists’ Union. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals. com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/auk.2010.127.3.726. R. TeRRy ChesseR,1,12,13 RiChaRd C. Banks,1 F. keiTh BaRkeR,2 CaRla CiCeRo,3 Jon l. dunn,4 andRew w. kRaTTeR,5 iRBy J. loveTTe,6 Pamela C. Rasmussen,7 J. v. Remsen, JR.,8 James d. Rising,9 douglas F. sToTz,10 and kevin winkeR11

FORTY-FIFTH SUPPLEMENT TO THE AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION CHECK-LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS

1 U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA 2 Alexandria, Virginia, USA 3 Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA 4 Bishop, California, USA 5 Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA 6 Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA 7 Museo de Zoologia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico 8 Michigan State University Museum and Department of Zoology, East Lansing, Michigan, USA 9 Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA 10 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ramsay Wright Labs, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 11 Environment, Culture and Conservation, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA 12 University of Alaska Museum, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA * Corresponding author: chessert@si.edu; Chairman of the Committee on Classification and Nomenclature—North and Middle America, of the American Ornithologists’ Union. All authors are members of the Committee and are listed alphabetically after the Chairman.

Forty-ninth Supplement to the AmericAn ornithologiStS' union CheCk-list of North AmeriCAN Birds

1U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History, MRC-111, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013, USA; 2Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, California 94720, USA; 3Rural Route 2, Box 52R, Bishop, California 93514, USA; 4Florida Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 117800, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA; 5Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA; 6Museum and Department of Zoology, Michigan State, University, West Circle Drive, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA; 7Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Foster Hall 119, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA; 8Department of Zoology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G5, Canada; 9Environmental and Conservation Programs, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605, USA; and 10University of Alaska Museum, 907 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA

Forty-eighth supplement to the American ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds

tion of the 7th edition of the Check-list of North American Birds (American Ornithologists’ Union [AOU] 1998). It summarizes decisions made by the AOU’s Committ ee on Classifi cation and Nomenclature—North America between 1 January and 31 December 2006. The Committ ee has continued to operate in the manner outlined in the 42nd Supplement (AOU 2000). Two new members were added to the committ ee in 2006— R. Terry Chesser and Irby J. Lovett e. Changes in this Supplement fall into the following categories: (1) two species are added because of splits in species already on the list (Anser serrirostris, Buteogallus gundlachii); (2) three species are added (two transferred from the Appendix) because of new distributional information (Oceanodroma hornbyi, Mesophoyx intermedia, Falco vespertinus); (3) the name of one species is changed because of a split from an extralimital species (Larus michahellis); (4) three generic names are changed, one because of a merger of genera (Spizastur into Spizaetus), two because of a splitt ing of genera (Megaceryle from Ceryle); (5) one English name is changed because of a split of the species (Anser fabalis) and (6) one species is added to the Appendix (Threskiornis aethiopicus). Further, one family (Cathartidae) is removed from the Order Ciconiiformes and returned provisionally to the Order Falconiformes, its traditional placement before 1998, although its true phylogenetic position remains uncertain.

Geographic variation in the yellow-billed cuckoo

Populations of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus americanus, west of the Rocky Mountains have average wing lengths slightly greater than those of eastern North America, but the difference is not sufficient for taxonomic recognition. There is no geographically oriented variation in bill size or color, and the species is best considered monotypic.

Occurrence and Migration of Certain Birds in Southwestern California

last published summary by Grinnell and Miller (1944). A subject still in need of intensive study is autumnal migration. Facts about the timing of movement of individual species and of migrant waves are poorly known for birds in general, but especially so for the western wood warblers (Parulidae). The belief that there are no waves of warblers in the western United States is commonly accepted. Intensive study of a small area in the fall of 1962 has brought out some new facts concerning both the movements of common western species and the occurrence of several eastern species considered to be casual or accidental in California. The study area reported on here, referred to as the Tia Juana River bottom, encompasses the terminal five miles of that river. The Tia Juana River originates in the coast ranges of southern San Diego County, California. It flows southwestward into northern Baja California, Mexico, but swings to the northwest near Tijuana and empties into the Pacific Ocean in extreme southwestern San Diego County. The study area, about four miles square, is bounded on the north by San Diego Bay, on the east by U.S. Highway 101, on the south by the international border, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Most of our work was concentrated in favorable areas within a mile of the river. This section of the flat coastal plain is one of truck farming and small dairy ranches. The river, in the center of the area, is dry most of the year and consists mainly of a sandy wash with low brush and weeds growing in and along it. Migrant birds tended to concentrate on the Myers property, so extensive observations were made there. The property is about one mile south of Nestor, on the north bank of the wash. Several rows of tamarisk trees (Tamarix sp.) border the property, and a shallow ditch grown to low brush, especially tree tobacco (Nicotiana glauca), runs along the northern edge of the place. A small fish pool provides a constant water supply for birds. The property is approximately 300 x 200 feet (91 x 61 m). This clump of greenery is the only prominent stand of vegetation in the valley.

Taxonomy of Greater White-fronted Geese (Aves: Anatidae)

Abstract Five subspecies of the Greater White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons (Scopoli, 1769), have been named, all on the basis of wintering birds, and up to six subspecies have been recognized. There has been confusion over the application of some names, particularly in North America, because of lack of knowledge of the breeding ranges and type localities, and incorrect taxonomic decisions. There is one clinally varying subspecies in Eurasia, one that breeds in Greenland, and three in North America, one newly named herein.

AVIAN CHOLERA IN CEDAR WAXWINGS IN OHIO

Avian cholera (Pasteurella multocida infection) was responsible for a localized die-off of cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) at Steubenville, Ohio in late June, 1968.

Plumage variation in the masked bobwhite

Soon after Brewster (1885) described the Masked Bobwhite, Colinus virginianus ridgwayi, Allen ( 1886a) obtained additional material and called attention to a high degree of color variation in the males of this form. The entire head, neck, and throat of the type, from extreme northern Sonora, was black, and Brewster (1885:ZOO) specifically noted the absence of white frontal and superciliary stripes. Most of Allen’ s birds from Arizona, on the other hand, had more or less well marked white superciliary lines, and he suggested (1886a:275) that the type seemed to be “rather exceptional in certain features.” Later, Allen ( 1886b) commented on additional variation in the shade of cinnamon on the underparts of the Arizona birds and on the touches of white on the throats of most males. Still later, he described the head of another male from Arizona that had even more white on the head and throat than those available earlier (Allen 1887). Apparently not to be outdone, Brewster (1887) described a series of birds from Sonora, noting that “The eight males included in this series show an even greater range of variation than the ten birds . . .” described by Allen, having even more white sprinkled on the head. Brewster suggested that this variation might be related to age. Except for the description of the first plumage of a young male (Allen 1889) and various attempts to use previously recorded information to determine the relationship of ridgwayi to other bobwhites, nothing further on the plumage of this form was written until Ridgway and Friedmann ( 1946) published a detailed description of it. Several years ago my attention was drawn to this form because of its status as endangered (B.S.F.W. 1966). While examining the small series of ridgwayi in the National Museum of Natural History (USNM ), I noticed variation in a color character on the head that had not been discussed previously. The USNM specimens were actually of two series, the first a group of birds taken by Lt. Benson at Bacoachi and Cumpas, Sonora, in 1886 and 1887, and the second, of birds recently received from the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, where birds from the Benjamin Hill, Sonora, area were being reared in captivity to provide stock for attempts at reintroduction of the subspecies in Arizona ( Tomlinson 1972b :305 ) . The Benjamin Hill birds, which had been captured in Sonora or were the captive-reared first generation offspring of such birds, all had black ear coverts, whereas all the Bacoachi-Cumpas individuals had reddishbrown ear coverts; this was true in both sexes. Certain other features-paler ventral and browner dorsal coloration in the males-seemed to be associated with the reddish-brown ear coverts. A pair of bobwhites from Las Arenas, in the Valle de Agua Caliente, seemed slightly different from both the BacoachiCumpas specimens and the Benjamin Hill birds, although they also had reddish-brown ear coverts. The detailed description of the plumage of ridgwayi given by Ridgway and Friedmann (1946:344) agreed with, and probably was based on, the Bacoachi-Cumpas specimens and did not mention the occurrence of black auriculars in this taxon. My first reaction to discovery of this variation was that the birds referrred to ridgwayi actually might FIGURE 1. Past distribution of the Masked Bobwhite Quail. From Tomlinson 197213.