Distribution

Breeding Range

Breeds locally in interior of w. North America in the following states and provinces. Alberta: throughout se. Alberta north to about N. Saskatchewan River and west to foothills of Rocky Mtns. (Semenchuk 1992). Saskatchewan: throughout s. Saskatchewan north to Turtleford, Crean Lake, Squaw Rapids, and Hudson Bay (Smith 1996). Manitoba: throughout sw. Manitoba (Godfrey 1996). Montana: throughout state, but absent from se. Montana (except extreme southeast) and Rocky Mtns. of w. Montana (Montana Bird Dist. Comm. 1996). N. and S. Dakota: throughout most areas north and east of Missouri River south to (probably) Aurora Co., SD, and more locally in areas west of Missouri River (Stewart 1975, Peterson 1995). Nebraska: in n. Nebraska, north of Platte River east to at least Cherry Co. and possibly Knox Co. but apparently not in extreme northwest (Sharpe et al. in press). Oregon: Klamath, Lake, Harney, and Malheur Cos. in s.-central Oregon (Paulson 1993, Gilligan et al. 1994). Idaho: throughout s. Idaho (mainly Grays Lake and Camas refuge region) north to about 45°N (Paulson 1993, Stephens and Sturts 1998). California: in Klamath Basin and Modoc Plateau of ne. California from Surprise Valley (Modoc Co.) south to Honey Lake (Lassen Co.) and farther south in portions of e. Mono Co. and possibly e. Inyo Co. (Small 1994). Nevada: breeds locally in wetlands of n. Nevada (T. Floyd pers. comm.). Utah: in Great Salt Lake region of n. Utah (Behle et al. 1985). Wyoming: throughout w. portion of state and more locally in e.-central Wyoming (Oakleaf et al. 1992). Colorado: Jackson Co. and possibly Alamosa Co. in n. Colorado (Nelson 1998).

Formerly in w. Minnesota (Grant, Traverse, Lac Qui Parle, and Swift Cos.); last undoubted breeding in 1932 in Swift Co. (Janssen 1987) and possibly nw. Iowa (dubious breeding record for Sioux Co. [2 Jun 1900] and vague reference for Jasper Co.; Kent and Dinsmore 1996). See Am. Ornithol. Union 1998 .

Also breeds in wetlands locally along Atlantic coast and along coast of n. Gulf of Mexico. Newfoundland: rare breeder in s. Newfoundland (Mactavish et al. 1989, Cotter and Henderson 1996). Quebec: probable breeder in Magdalen Is. (Cotter and Henderson 1996). Maritime Provinces: New Brunswick (Kent and Westmoreland Cos., Grand Manan I.; possibly Gloucester Co.), nearly all coasts of Prince Edward I. and Nova Scotia (Erskine 1992). Maine: Cumberland and York Cos. (Adamus 1988). New Hampshire: Strafford and Rockingham Cos. (Gavutis 1994). Massachusetts: Essex, Plymouth, and Barnstable Cos. (Veit and Petersen 1993). Rhode Island: Hog I., Newport Co. (Enser 1992). Connecticut: locally in all coastal counties (Bevier 1994). New York: Long I. (Peterson 1988). New Jersey: All counties along Atlantic Coast, from Middlesex Co. south, and all counties along coast of Delaware Bay from s. Salem Co. south (Walsh et al. 1999). Delaware: Kent and Sussex Cos. (Hess et al. 2000). Maryland: Worcester, Somerset, Wicomico, Dorchester, and Talbot Cos., possibly St. Marys Co. (O’Brien 1996). Virginia: Accomack, Northampton, Northumberland, Mathews, and York Cos. (Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas [BBA] project unpubl.). N. and S. Carolina: locally along entire Atlantic Coast (Pearson et al. 1942, Post and Gauthreaux 1989). Georgia: coastal islands of Sapelo, Ossabaw, Cabbage, St. Catherine’s, Jekyll, Folly, Myrtle, and Buck Hammock (Burleigh 1958). Florida: limited to coastal salt marshes (Douglas 1996) from Nassau Co. south to Brevard Co. along Atlantic Coast; Florida Keys; and from Escambia Co. south to Lee Co. along Gulf Coast, and possibly other coastal areas (Stevenson and Anderson 1994; Florida BBA unpubl.). Alabama: Dauphin I., Mobile Co. (Imhof 1962). Mississippi: Pascagoula River, Jackson Co., and all coastal barrier islands (Turcotte and Watts 1999). Louisiana: all coastal parishes, except absent from Iberia, St. Mary, and Terrebonne Parishes along central coast (Wiedenfeld and Swan 2000). Texas: entire Gulf Coast (Oberholser 1974), Mexico: coast of n. Tamaulipas (Howell and Webb 1995).

In West Indies, breeds at coastal wetlands in Bahamas, Greater Antilles (although breeding “as yet unrecorded on Hispaniola”; Raffaele et al. 1998: 274), Cayman Is., Virgin Is., Antigua, and possibly Anguilla, St. Martin, and Barbuda (Raffaele et al. 1998). Also breeds on Los Roques off n. Venezuela (Phelps 1975). Nonbreeding individuals occur sporadically in summer as far south as n. South America. Breeding reports from Yucatán require confirmation (Howell and Webb 1995).

Winter Range

Winters mainly from about Humboldt Bay in n. California (Small 1994), but in small numbers from Oregon (Yaquina Bay, Coos Bay, and sometimes Coquille River estuary; Gilligan et al. 1994) and s. Washington (Willapa Bay; Paulson 1993), and casually from extreme sw. British Columbia (Georgia Strait; Campbell et al. 1990), south along Pacific Coast of California (and regularly at inland sites in California, including Salton Sea and San Joaquin Valley; Shuford et al. 1998); and from central Virginia (Accomack Co.; Christmas Bird Count data), in small numbers from New Jersey (Walsh et al. 1999), and casually (at least through Dec) from Massachusetts (Veit and Petersen 1993), south along Atlantic Coast (very rarely within Delaware Bay; Hess et al. 2000) to s. Florida (Stevenson and Anderson 1994); along Gulf Coast of U.S., along both coasts (and offshore islands) of Middle America (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Stiles and Skutch 1989, Howell and Webb 1995), along Pacific coast of South America (Am. Ornithol. Union 1998) south to central Chile (specimens from Arica and Iquique [Tarapacá Region] and Concón [Valparaíso Region]; sight records from Tongoy [Elqui province]; Araya and Chester 1993), the Galápagos Is. (Am. Ornithol. Union 1998), and along Atlantic coast of South America, including Trinidad and Tobago (ffrench 1991) and islands off coast of Venezuela (Meyer de Schauensee and Phelps 1978), south to s. Brazil and Uruguay (Belton 1973, Am. Ornithol. Union 1998).

Resident within breeding areas in West Indies (see Breeding range, above), with wintering birds also occurring on Providencia and San Andrés, and on St. Barthélemy, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Barbados in the Lesser Antilles but rarely on remaining Lesser Antilles islands (Raffaele et al. 1998). One winter record for Bermuda (Amos 1991).

Other Records

Casual north to ne. British Columbia, s. Hudson Bay, and s. Quebec. Unsubstantiated sight records for Alaska: Minto Lakes (Van Velzen 1963) and Portage Bay (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959).

Accidental in Hawaiian Is. (O‘ahu, Maui; Am. Ornithol. Union 1998). Few accidental reports in Europe: pre-1867 record at Abbeville, France; 12 Mar 1979 record in Azores (Cramp and Simmons 1983), 21 Sep 1983 record in Finland (BirdLife Finland 2000); also records from Sweden and Croatia (Dalmatia; Am. Ornithol. Union 1957, 1998).

Market-hunting and egging reduced Atlantic coast populations so that by 1890s, only a remnant population in sw. Nova Scotia (Digby and Yarmouth Cos.) existed north of S. Carolina (Lewis 1920, Townsend 1920, Bent 1929, Tufts 1986, Erskine 1992). Reappearance and expansion was slow. In Nova Scotia, reappeared in Queens Co. in 1930, Lunenburg Co. in 1932, Annapolis Co. in 1940, Halifax Co. in 1949, and Guysborough Co. in 1957 (Tufts 1986). Reappeared in New Brunswick and on Prince Edward I. in 1960s (Mills 1964, Erskine 1992). In New Jersey, small breeding population maintained in remote marshes on Delaware Bay shore (Stone 1937), and general recovery in state began in 1950s (Walsh et al. 1999). Reappeared in New York in 1966 (Davis 1968) with 3 pairs, 83 in 1975, 160 in 1983 (Peterson 1988); in Maine in 1971 (Finch 1971, Adamus 1988); in Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1976 (Veit and Petersen 1993, Bevier 1994); in New Hampshire and Rhode Island in 1987 (Enser 1992, Gavutis 1994).

Population in west has declined due to conversion of wetlands and uplands to grain and other crops (Grinnell et al. 1918, Ryan and Renken 1987, Page and Gill 1994). For Minnesota, historically common in Grant and Traverse Cos. (i.e., 1879) and recorded as numerous in Lac Qui Parle Co. in 1889, but since 1900, no record of undoubted breeding except during 1931 and 1932 in Swift Co. (Janssen 1987). No longer breeding in Iowa, if it ever did (Kent and Dinsmore 1996), and range reduced in N. Dakota (Stewart 1975). In Colorado, breeding reported for Adams Co. in 1931 and 1936 and for Park Co. for 1981–1983 (Andrews and Righter 1992).

Pair performing courtship displays at Baie du Havre aux Basques, Magdalen I., Quebec, 17 Jun 1989; possibly preliminary to range expansion (Cotter and Henderson 1996).

No information.