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Re: Southern Lapwing?

From:

Mark Hoffman

Reply-To:

Mark Hoffman

Date:

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:31:41 -0400

The bird was not in a location that is easily accessible.  Only by boat or
from private property.  I know of one other observer who looked for the bird
earlier in the week and did not find it.  But it's must be around
someplace!!

I've also added comments on the subspecific identification of this
individual on my web-site, repeated below are the details I received from
Alvaro Jaramillo, an authority on geographical variation in this species:

"I had a look at the photos and the bird looks to be clearly in the
cayennensis group (long legs, long black crest, no dark line on breast, slim
shape, dull bill color etc.). I also think that based on some of those
features as well as the brownish rather than grayish face, that is
cayennensis, not a lampronotus from the south. The form cayennensis is the
one in the north of South America, and the one that has expanded recently
into Central America as well as Trinidad and Tobago. So it is the subspecies
that would be expected as a vagrant in North America, or at least more
expected than the other forms. Below is an abstract of a paper I gave at the
Neotropical Ornithology Meeting a few years ago now which summarizes some of
the geo-variation:

Geographic variation in morphology and voice of Vanellus chilensis
Alvaro Jaramillo, San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, P.O. Box 247, Alviso,
CA, 95002, USA.

The Southern Lapwing, Vanellus chilensis, is a common species of open
habitats throughout the Neotropics. Four subspecies are currently
recognized, the species is considered to vary geographically only to a
moderate extent. The taxon chilensis is found west of the Andes, in Chile,
while fretensis replaces it in southernmost Chile and Patagonian Argentina.
The subspecies lampronotus is found east of the Andes from central Argentina
north to the Amazon River, it is replaced north of the Amazon by
cayennensis. To assess geographic variation, I measured over 140 specimens
including members of all four subspecies. I analyzed recordings of all four
subspecies, from a wide variety of geographic sites. I found that there is a
significant break in morphology in the Southern Lapwing, that matches up to
an equally clear break in voice between the Chilean/Patagonian populations
(chilensis and fretensis) and the tropical/eastern populations (cayennensis
and lampronotus). Multivariate analyses characterize the chilensis group as
large, long-winged, long-tailed, and short-legged with calls being deeper,
individual notes longer, and having a distinctive vibrating quality. The
cayanensis group is short-winged, long-legged, voice is higher and
individual notes are simple in structure compared to the chilensis group.
The two groups also differ consistently in crest length and colour, head
colour, tail band width, and perhaps soft part colours. The dark mid-breast
line's presence is variable in the cayennensis but not chilensis groups.
Individuals showing intermediate characters are rare. The clear difference
in morphology and voice between the groups, with only small differences
within each group is a pattern that implies that two species are involved.
In some respects this situation resembles that of Pluvialis dominica and P.
fulva in the Holarctic."

 
Mark L Hoffman
Sykesville, MD

-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Matt Anthony
Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 9:40 PM
To: 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Southern Lapwing?

After seeing the pictures of the Southern Lapwing, I have been surprised =

that there have been no more postings about the bird.  Does anyone know i=
f 
the bird is still being seen?  Thanks.

Matt Anthony