A Pipit Forecast

Paul Lehman, WINGS Leader in Residence at Gambell, sends word that this has been a decidedly better-than-average year up there (out there? over there?) for Red-throated and Siberian Pipits–and, portentously, that good pipit years at Gambell have in the past turned out to be good pipit years in California, too.

"just" an American Pipit, Lake Havasu

Hurray for California, of course, but it’s well worth remembering that Arizona and Sonora should see the “overflow” of those good years. Red-throated has been seen in Tucson (a May bird), and Siberian Pipit–currently classified by the AOU as a distinctive subspecies japonicus of American Pipit–has been collected just south of the international border. Careful scanning of those big pipit flocks may pay off over the next few weeks!

Not to mention the Yellow Wagtail in New York last week….