MD Osprey:

FYI ... I don't have a copy of this paper, yet, but here's an abstract ...


Factors affecting the Occurrence of the Eurasian Lapwing in Eastern North 
America.
Aaron M. Bagg. 1967. Living Bird, 6: 87-121. (Including 12 weather maps by 
Jolm H. Conover.)

Thirty records of the Eurasian (sic) Lapwing in eastern North America are 
listed, in addition to the great flight which reached Labrador and 
Newfoundland in December 1927, and a smaller flight which reached 
Newfoundland and the Maritime Provinces in January 1966 and which 
occasioned this paper. Both flights followed the same sequence of weather 
changes: an incursion of cold air into western Europe from the east, 
causing mass westward movements of Lapwings towards Ireland, followed by 
the development of an unusually extensive low pressure across the Atlantic, 
causing strong easterly winds between Ireland and Newfoundland. Bagg 
suggests that birds which overshot Ireland maintained their westward 
heading and were able to cross the Atlantic in about 24 hours' flight. He 
further points out that the Atlantic lows also led to strong northwest 
winds in Nova Scotia and Maine: these would have diverted out to sea any 
birds which failed to settle in eastern Canada, and hence account for the 
extreme rarity of the species in the United States.


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Phil Davis, Secretary
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