True Winter Range of the Veery (Catharus Fuscescens): Lessons for Determining Winter Ranges of Species That Winter in The Tropics

Abstract

AbstractMost recent references describe the winter range of the Veery (Catharus fuscescens) as including an extensive area from northern Colombia, Venezuela, and Guyana south to south-central Brazil. Analysis of seasonal distribution of specimen records in South America, however, shows that 91 of 105 specimens were taken during spring and fall, not winter; the remaining 14, taken from 2 December to 20 February, are all from three small areas at the periphery or south of the Amazon basin. Thus, the true winter range is almost completely south and east of the area generally described. The seasonal distribution of specimen records is consistent with observational data from South America and banding data from the Neotropics. Although those data must be treated cautiously, it appears that the true winter range of the Veery is in south-central and southeastern Brazil, an area where habitat destruction threatens many natural habitats, rather than in the relatively undisturbed areas of western Amazonia. Widespread erroneous portrayal of the winter range of the Veery seems to have been caused largely by the assumption that the species winters in South America wherever it has been recorded and by overlooking a previously published analysis of its winter distribution.