Subject: RE: Solitary Vireo split
Date: Nov 20 11:58:47 1997
From: "Haynie, Carl B" - Carl.Haynie at PSS.Boeing.com



Constance J. Sidles wrote: > Tweets, I just got back from the birding festival in Harlingen, TX,
and I > have a question for you: what is the current ABA status of Solitary
Vireos? > I saw one at Santa Ana NWR, and when I reported it to TX birders, they > asked me which one? Huh? They said the ABA had recently split Solitary > Vireos into 3 species. The one I saw had a dark gray head and yellow
washed > flanks, different from the all-gray Solitaries I see at the Fill. So I > suppose I can list two vireos now, but under what names?
Constance,

Sounds like you had an enjoyable trip despite the weather.

Yes, with the publishing of the 41st supplement of the AOU checklist
last July, the Solitary Vireo was split in three: Blue-headed Vireo,
Cassin's Vireo, and Plumbeous Vireo. It sounds like you had the
Blue-headed which is the colorful eastern species. This is the most
expected of the three vireos in the Rio Grande Valley. Further west,
Texas also gets Plumbeous. And Cassin's Vireo is a rare migrant (mostly
in fall?) in the Trans-Pecos (far west Texas).

For an up-to-date listing of the Texas state bird list (showing the
revised phylogeny as of July), you might want to look at the following
page on the Texas Bird Records Committee's web site:

http://members.tripod.com/~tbrc/statelst.htm

Carl Haynie
Issaquah, WA