Re: [Maine-birds] Black-bellied Whistling Ducks MDI HS

Congratulations to Becky, Rich, and Ed (and the "et al." who were there when the birds were found) on a great find, and many thanks for the alert. Since Glenn Jenks asked, I figure a short summary is in order.

This is at least the 2nd and potentially the 3rd record for the species in Maine. The first record was a group of 5 that were seen one day only 24 July 2010 at the Sanford treatment ponds (found by Pat Moynahan and Marian Zimmerman). A sight report from the Boothbay are last year is currently being reviewed by the Maine Bird Records Committee (the report is here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11344059).

Let me take this opportunity to solicit descriptions and photos of the MDI whistling-ducks. The Maine Bird Records Committee is keen to review and archive all the information we can about such rarities. Even though the identification might be obvious in this case, details on the birds' appearance might help track the group, notes on whether any are banded might be important (I couldn't say for sure based on my views today), and observations on behavior are all valuable. This is the strength of a records committee, collating and archiving such information for the historical record. Please send reports to Doug Hitchcox or to me.

Please also explore our updated web site. This link lists the current members, anyone of whom would be glad to hear from you and help with how to document rarities: https://sites.google.com/site/mainebirdrecordscommittee/About-ME-BRC/committee-members

Getting back to the Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, this occurrence continues a pattern of vagrancy for the species and is associated with increasing population and range expansion that has occurred in the past decade or more. The birds at MDI High School also fit right into a developing pattern of vagrants to the Northeast from May to July and August. For example, the first record for Massachusetts was a group of nine birds seen 6 June 2008 at Ipswich, and those were all likely the same birds seen a few days earlier in Nova Scotia (a bird with a bill deformity matched an individual at each locality). In May and June 2011, a group of five birds (perhaps not the same five) were in Massachusetts, New York/New Jersey (one site), Maryland, and New Hampshire. They might have visited Maine, and I made a plea to check ponds back then, but we missed 'em. Last year, the same thing happened with birds found over the same region, and apparently Maine too.

These birds seem to wander north into the Midwest and Northeast regardless of storm systems or weather patterns. The species is simply in expansion mode, like Eurasian Collared-Dove. Vagrants often presage a range expansion, and this seems to be another example.

Louis Bevier

Chair, Maine Bird Records Committee

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