Re: [Maine-birds] Black-bellied Whistling Duck - Get up early and GO!

Thanks for the great summary, Jon. If one looks in the 1957 edition of the AOU checklist, one gets the clear impression that the Black-bellied Whistling- (er, Tree-) Duck is a bird of that barely makes it to the U.S. from Mexico and then mainly to s. Texas. Looking in Thomas Burleigh's Georgia Birds published in 1958, one cannot find an entry for Black-bellied Whistling (or Tree) Duck. Last year, Georgia reported an all-time high count of 150 at one locality (North American Birds 66 (2): pg 256). Amazing! So, yes, we could be seeing birds from the Southeast and not from Texas. I think that is likely.

This pattern is similar in some ways to the range expansion of Cave Swallow, except for the fall dispersal of those. Another species to be on the lookout for and showing a similar dispersal and vagrancy pattern in Neotropic Cormorant. Those spread north from South America on one front and from Middle America (Mexico to the Gulf Coast, thence east and west). They are spreading in the West Indies, and there are now many far northern occurrences in the Midwest. Later this summer, we really ought to keep this stealth bird in mind. It will mean wading through lots of Double-crested Cormorants.

Lastly, I answered Michael privately, but his question about these being the same group should be addressed. The flocks of these whistling-ducks that have been seen were 5 in 2010 and again, over a wider area, in 2011. But there wasn't a group like that last year. My guess is that small groups travel together even when moving long distances. There are also single birds that disperse.

Louis Bevier
Fairfield

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