Not hardly a coincidence. That's one of my photos of Poppy on their home page. :) 

Mark Hoffman

P.S. I truly hate naming rarities, but this one just begs for something.  Given its enjoyment of popcorn, it's the best I could come up with....

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Kerry L. Stone [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:	Thu Jun 08 18:22:13 2006
To:	
Subject:	[MDOSPREY] Cornell announcement of BBWD

Hi there, 
Look at this article from Cornell below. Coincidence?


Kerry Stone
Takoma Park, MD 
Montgomery County



Southern belles grace the North
 
This Black-bellied Whistling-Duck showed up at Washington Center Lake, Rio, Maryland on 4 June, photographed here on 5 June.
©Mark Hoffman
June 6, 2006
Magnificent Frigatebirds aren't the only species making headlines in the North these days. Both species of Whistling-Ducks have been found recently in areas far outside their normal ranges of occurrence. Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, the more range-restricted of the two species, have been seen since late May in unusual locations and in numbers. It started with a report of 5 birds at Altamaha Wildlife Management Area in Georgia on 28 May, with that number quickly rising to 38 individuals on 4 June! The northerly wave continued with one at Rio, Maryland, from 4-6 June and up to four in Berks County, Pennsylvania, from 1-6 June! Other possible reports came from North Carolina and Missouri. 

The patterns of vagrancy in this species are often clouded by the fact that it is kept in many waterfowl collections throughout North America, and escapes often occur. This invasion is unprecedented, however, and the pattern seems solid. We might expect even more Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks to appear in the North over the next few days given the strong southerly winds predicted. 

As many as three Fulvous Whistling-Ducks appeared at Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge on 29 May and were still being seen as of 5 June. In Missouri, another Fulvous Whistling-Duck was reported on 3 June from Newton County.

 
This Black-bellied Whistling-Duck is one of four currently present in Berks County, Pennsylvania!
©Geoff Malosh
But the two Whistling-Ducks aren't the only southern species involved in the invasion. Since about mid-May multiple Magnificent Frigatebirds have been found in the North, and continue to be seen in the Carolinas, and a suite of other southern specialties have appeared in far flung locations. It's hard to know how connected these reports are to a single cause, but the influx appears to be more than a simple coincidence. 

A few of the most noteworthy reports include a Gray Kingbird at Cape May, NJ, on 21 May, and a Swainson's Warbler there on 24 May. The most shocking report was of a Southern Lapwing, a species slowly spreading its range north in Central and South America, at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in northern Florida on 21 May! 


 
This Fork-tailed Flycatcher was seen from 4-5 June near Philadelphia, PA, photographed here on 5 June. 
©Geoff Malosh 
Another southern vagrant from Central and South America made a most welcomed appearance recently in Pennsylvania--a Fork-tailed Flycatcher turned up on 4 June not far from Philadelphia, PA. In addition to the Fork-tailed Flycatcher, multiple reports of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers have come in from the East, with at least one in North Carolina and one in South Carolina. 

With all this southern flare added to the typical summer birding across the Northeast, eBirders should study your field guides and be prepared to encounter some rarities!


©2006 Audubon and Cornell Lab