Evidence for Wintering and Resident Populations of Swainson’s Flycatcher (Myiarchus Swainsoni) in Northern Suriname

Zimmer (1938: 408) was the first to demonstrate that the nominate subspecies of Swainsonss Flycatcher (Myiarchus s. swainsoni) of southeastern South America winters in northern South America. He based his demonstration upon specimens known to him from Guyana, Venezuela, and Colombia. Junge and Mees (1958: 106) later extended the known wintering range for these transequatorial migrants to include the island of Trinidad. The first specimens of Swainsoh’s Flycatcher for Suriname were collected by Haverschmid(t1 968:3 13, 1972:5 2) and assigned by him to the nominate race, which was quite understandable considering th e proximity of the Guyanan locality and the extreme difficulty with which one identifies specimens of this and other species in the genus. Subsequently, I broadened the known range of wintering (or migrant?) individuals to include northern Brazil as well, but I could not agree with Haverschmidt’s conclusion that his northern Suriname specimens represented a wintering population (Lanyon 1978: 531).

WESLEY E. LANYON, The Auk 99:581-582