Distribution

Breeding Range

Figure 1. Breeds from interior British Columbia and central Alberta, east to southwestern and east-central Ontario (Godfrey 1986 Godfrey, W. E. (1986). The Birds of Canada. Revised Edition. National Museums of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada. Close , Cadman et al. 2007a Cadman, M. D., D. A. Sutherland, G. G. Beck, D. Lepage, and A. R. Couturier (Editors) (2007). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario 2001–2005. Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Close ), southern Quebec (north to 49°N in west and to just over 50°N in east, and the Anticosti and Magdalen Islands; Falardeau 1996d Falardeau, G. (1996d). "Veery." In The Breeding Birds of Quebec: atlas of the breeding birds of southern Quebec, edited by J. Gauthier and Y. Aubry, 780-783. Montreal: Association quebecoise des groupes d'ornithologues, Province of Quebec Society for the Protection of Birds, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Quebec Region. Close ), the Maritime Provinces (Erskine 1992a Erskine, A. J. (1992). Atlas of Breeding Birds of the Maritime Provinces. Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax, NS, Canada. Close ) and southwestern Newfoundland south to northern New Jersey, southern Pennsylvania (Wilson et al. 2012 Wilson, A. M., D. W. Brauning, and R. S. Mulvihill (Editors) (2012). Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA, USA. Close ), northern Delaware (Hess et al. 2000b Hess, G. K., R. L. West, M. V. Barnhill III, and L. M. Fleming (2000). Birds of Delaware. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Close ), northeastern Maryland, northern half of Ohio (especially northeastern Ohio; Rodewald et al. 2016 Rodewald, P. G., M. B. Shumar, A. T. Boone, D. L. Slager, and J. S. McCormac (Editors) (2016). The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Ohio. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA, USA. Close ), northern Indiana, central Minnesota and northern North Dakota (Stewart 1975b Stewart, R. E. (1975). Breeding Birds of North Dakota. Tri-College Center for Environmental Studies, Fargo, North Dakota, USA. Close ). Also breeds in eastern U.S. at higher elevations of the Appalachians from western Maryland south to northern Georgia; e.g., in Tennessee, in far eastern mountains (Great Smokies, Unakas, Blue Ridge) above 900 m, as well as in the Cumberland mountains (Nicholson 1997b Nicholson, C. P. (1997). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Tennessee. University Press of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA. Close ). In the western U.S., breeds in Black Hills of western South Dakota (South Dakota Ornithologists' Union 1991 South Dakota Ornithologists' Union (1991). The Birds of South Dakota, 2nd edition. South Dakota Ornithologists' Union, Aberdeen, South Dakota, USA. Close ), in central and western Montana, Idaho, northern Utah, southern Wyoming, north-central Colorado (localized in mountains at 1,950 to 3,250 m; Wickersham 2016 Wickersham, L. E. (Editor) (2016). The Second Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas. Colorado Bird Atlas Partnership and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Denver, CO, USA. Close ), northeastern Oregon (including Ochoco Mountains, Gilligan et al. 1994 Gilligan, J. D., M. Rogers, A. Smith, and A. Contreras (1994). Birds of Oregon: Status and Distribution. Cinclus Publications, McMinnville, Oregon, USA. Close ), eastern and northern Washington, and along the eastern foothills of the Cascades in Washington (Smith et al. 1997 Smith, M. R., P. W. Mattocks Jr., and K. M. Cassidy (1997). Breeding Birds of Washington State. In Washington State Gap Analysis - Final Report (K. M. Cassidy, C. E. Grue, M. R. Smith, and K. M. Dvornich, Editors). Seattle Audubon Society Publications in Zoology no. 1., Seattle, Washington, USA. Close ). A disjunct population breeds in some years in vicinity of Little Colorado River in east-central Arizona (Phillips et al. 1964a Phillips, A. R., J. T. Marshall Jr., and G. B. Monson (1964). The Birds of Arizona. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, USA. Close ). Using mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences, Veery showed no sign of recent population expansion between eastern and western populations suggesting the breeding distribution of this species did not change significantly following the last glacial maximum (Topp et al. 2013 Topp, C. M., C. L. Pruett, K. G. McCracken and K. Winker. (2013). How migratory thrushes conquered northern North America: A comparative phylogeography approach. Peerj 1:e206. Close ).

Overwintering Range

Overwintering range encompasses a large area stretching from the southern Orinoco River basin, eastward to Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, south to southern Sao Paulo, Mato Grosso and Rondônia States Brazil, and into Bolivia (Remsen 2001 Remsen, Jr., J. V. (2001). True winter range of the Veery (Catharus fuscescens): lessons for determining winter ranges of species that winter in the tropics. Auk 118:838-848. Close , Heckscher et al. 2011 Heckscher, C. M., S. M. Taylor, J. W. Fox, and V. Afanasyev. (2011). Veery (Catharus fuscescens) wintering locations, migratory connectivity, and a revision of its winter range using geolocator technology. Auk 128:531-542. Close , Heckscher et al. 2015 Heckscher, C. M., M. R. Halley and P. M. Stampul. (2015). Intratropical migration of a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird (Catharus fuscescens) in South America with implications for migration theory. Journal of Tropical Ecology 31:285-289. Close ). A few records exist from northeastern Paraguay and there is a record from Santa Catarina, Brazil (Kaminski 2011 Kaminski, N. (2011). First documented record of Veery Catharus fuscescens in southern Brazil. Cotinga 33:98. Close , Pagano et al. 2013 Pagano, L. G., P. Smith and A. Bodrati. (2013). Catharus fuscescens in Argentina and Paraguay. Hornero 28 (2):79-83. Close ). However, these latter records may represent individuals that over-shot their Nearctic–Neotropical or intratropical migrations (Pagano et al. 2013 Pagano, L. G., P. Smith and A. Bodrati. (2013). Catharus fuscescens in Argentina and Paraguay. Hornero 28 (2):79-83. Close ). Recent tracking data from geolocators and miniaturized GPS devices deployed in Delaware and British Columbia, breeding sites show most individuals have two different overwinter areas (Heckscher et al. 2011 Heckscher, C. M., S. M. Taylor, J. W. Fox, and V. Afanasyev. (2011). Veery (Catharus fuscescens) wintering locations, migratory connectivity, and a revision of its winter range using geolocator technology. Auk 128:531-542. Close , Heckscher et al. 2015 Heckscher, C. M., M. R. Halley and P. M. Stampul. (2015). Intratropical migration of a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird (Catharus fuscescens) in South America with implications for migration theory. Journal of Tropical Ecology 31:285-289. Close , Hobson and Kardynal 2015 Hobson, K. A., and K. J. Kardynal. (2015). Western Veeries use an eastern shortest-distance pathway: New insights to migration routes and phenology using light-level geolocators. Auk 132:540-550. Close ). The species first migrates to a region south of the Amazon River to settles primarily in south-central Brazil on the Brazilian Shield geologic formation. These initial overwinter sites are concentrated in the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Para, and Rondônia (Remsen 2001 Remsen, Jr., J. V. (2001). True winter range of the Veery (Catharus fuscescens): lessons for determining winter ranges of species that winter in the tropics. Auk 118:838-848. Close , Heckscher et al. 2015 Heckscher, C. M., M. R. Halley and P. M. Stampul. (2015). Intratropical migration of a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird (Catharus fuscescens) in South America with implications for migration theory. Journal of Tropical Ecology 31:285-289. Close ). Veeries then undertake an intratropical migration north, west, and southwest of the Brazilian Shield to a second overwinter site usually in mid-February (Heckscher et al. 2015 Heckscher, C. M., M. R. Halley and P. M. Stampul. (2015). Intratropical migration of a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird (Catharus fuscescens) in South America with implications for migration theory. Journal of Tropical Ecology 31:285-289. Close ). Mean arrival of birds at second sites, tracked via geolocators from a Delaware breeding site, was 12 February (range: 5 January–4 March; Heckscher et al. 2015 Heckscher, C. M., M. R. Halley and P. M. Stampul. (2015). Intratropical migration of a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird (Catharus fuscescens) in South America with implications for migration theory. Journal of Tropical Ecology 31:285-289. Close ). Second sites are more widespread with most birds moving north of the Amazon River to the Guyana Shield in northern Brazil and southern Venezuela with some settling in Guyana and Suriname. Some birds move south into Bolivia. The two sites together make up the entire overwintering range which encompasses the period between 8 Dec (end of Nearctic–Neotropical migration) and 7 April (onset of Nearctic–Neotropical migration; Heckscher et al. 2011 Heckscher, C. M., S. M. Taylor, J. W. Fox, and V. Afanasyev. (2011). Veery (Catharus fuscescens) wintering locations, migratory connectivity, and a revision of its winter range using geolocator technology. Auk 128:531-542. Close ). Of 51 individuals tracked from Delaware only one did not move to a second site and that bird is the only one to date that initially settled north of the Amazon River (CMH). Some Veery “first” sites are in southeastern Brazil in the Atlantic Forest (Tyler 1949b Tyler, W. M. (1949b). "Hylocichla fuscescens fuscescens (Stephens) Veery." In Life Histories of North American Thrushes, Kinglets and their Allies, edited by A. C. Bent, 217-231. Washington, D.C.: US National Museum Bull., No 196. Close , Remsen 2001 Remsen, Jr., J. V. (2001). True winter range of the Veery (Catharus fuscescens): lessons for determining winter ranges of species that winter in the tropics. Auk 118:838-848. Close ) but it is unknown whether these birds also move to second sites. The origin of Atlantic Forest birds is not known considering birds from Delaware and British Columbia – breeding populations nearly 4,000 km apart—have all settled in the Amazon and Orinoco basins. From Delaware geolocator tracking study: mean latitude of first sites 10.4°S ± 3.6 (range 2.3–16.8), mean longitude of first sites 56.4°W ± 4.3 (range 50.8–66.0); mean latitude of second sites 1.6°N ± 5.9 (range 2.9°N–17.5°S), mean longitude of second sites 60.1°W ± 4.2 (range 50.3–68.7) (Heckscher et al. 2015 Heckscher, C. M., M. R. Halley and P. M. Stampul. (2015). Intratropical migration of a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird (Catharus fuscescens) in South America with implications for migration theory. Journal of Tropical Ecology 31:285-289. Close ). Duration at initial overwinter sites ranged from 36–121 d; duration at second sites ranged from 38–97 d (Heckscher et al. 2015 Heckscher, C. M., M. R. Halley and P. M. Stampul. (2015). Intratropical migration of a Nearctic-Neotropical migratory songbird (Catharus fuscescens) in South America with implications for migration theory. Journal of Tropical Ecology 31:285-289. Close ).

Note earlier descriptions of the species’ overwintering range included northern Colombia and other areas of South America (e.g., American Ornithologists' Union 1983 American Ornithologists' Union (1983) Check-list of North American Birds. Sixth edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, DC, USA. Close ) but these descriptions were based on transient individuals rather than settled birds (Remsen 2001 Remsen, Jr., J. V. (2001). True winter range of the Veery (Catharus fuscescens): lessons for determining winter ranges of species that winter in the tropics. Auk 118:838-848. Close ). It was suggested that Veery overwintering range should only include 2 concentrated areas in southern Brazil and the Atlantic Forest (Remsen 2001 Remsen, Jr., J. V. (2001). True winter range of the Veery (Catharus fuscescens): lessons for determining winter ranges of species that winter in the tropics. Auk 118:838-848. Close ), but that assessment was prior to geolocator studies that showed Veery moves to a second overwinter site after first settling in Remsen’s proposed regions of southern Brazil (Heckscher et al. 2011 Heckscher, C. M., S. M. Taylor, J. W. Fox, and V. Afanasyev. (2011). Veery (Catharus fuscescens) wintering locations, migratory connectivity, and a revision of its winter range using geolocator technology. Auk 128:531-542. Close ).

Extralimital Records

Accidental in Britain and Sweden (Alström and Colston 1991 Alström, P., and P. Colston (1991). A Field Guide to the Rare Birds of Britain and Europe. Harper Collins, London, United Kingdom. Close ).