Phainopepla nitens
Status: Accidental in winter.
Documentation: Photograph: 1 Jan 1983 Alliance, Box Butte Co (Thomas 1983).
Taxonomy: Two subspecies are recognized (Chu and Walsberg 2020, Gill et al 2022): lepida, breeding from California east to west Texas and south to southern Baja California, and nitens, breeding in southwest Texas south into Mexico.
The subspecies of the Nebraska bird is unknown.
Winter: There is one record:
1 Jan-13 Feb 1983 adult male Alliance, Box Butte Co (Thomas 1983).
This adult male was photographed at Alliance 1 Jan 1983; it was first seen drinking at a bird bath, and then was seen intermittently until 13 Feb (Thomas 1983).
Comments: The regular summer range of this species extends north to southwest Utah, central New Mexico, and western Texas. It is migratory in the northern parts of its range, and a rare post-breeding wanderer north of its range, with a detectable pattern of northward dispersal on the southwestern Great Plains. There are 11 records for the Colorado plains, only one since 1998 (16 Jun 2011), four for May-Jul and four for Sep. There are four confirmed records for Kansas, all in the southwest 3-23 Sep (Thompson et al 2011). These records align with the migration periods for the species, although the Nebraska record, along with one in eastern Colorado, are the only Great Plains Dec-Jan records, suggestive of fall to winter dispersal; supportive of such dispersal are the five far-flung northeasterly records from Minnesota to Massachusetts, the only records north and east of Nebraska, and all Oct-Feb (eBird.org, accessed Nov 2023).
There are no records for Wyoming, South Dakota, or Oklahoma (eBird.org, accessed Nov 2023).
Images
Literature Cited
Chu, M. and G. Walsberg (2020). Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.phaino.01.
Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
Thomas, D.G. 1983. Phainopepla. NBR 51: 19.
Thompson, M.C., C.A. Ely, B. Gress, C. Otte, S.T. Patti, D. Seibel, and E.A. Young. 2011. Birds of Kansas. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2023. Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 23 Nov 2023