17 Jun 2006. Bird found by M. Hoffman in marsh (to south and west) of intersection of Turville and Herring Creeks, very close to Turville Creek, Worcester County.

While working on Breeding Bird Atlas project by boat. Bird was in a relatively barren area of the marsh, fed a couple times, but mostly just perched. Watched for 20 minutes, then flushed and flew south and landed in the marsh. Looked for again about 4 hours later, but could not be relocated. Also seen by Mike Howard, my trusty guide to Worcester's shallow waters.

Bird was not banded and quite wary. Although records from Florida have been attributed to escapees, there is some indication this species has expanded northward.

I've asked Alvaro Jaramillo, an authority on geographical variation in this species, to comment on the MD bird:

"the bird looks to be clearly in the cayennensis group (long legs, long black crest, no dark line on breast, slim shape, dull bill color etc.). I also think that based on some of those features as well as the brownish rather than grayish face, that is cayennensis, not a lampronotus from the south. The form cayennensis is the one in the north of South America, and the one that has expanded recently into Central America as well as Trinidad and Tobago. So it is the subspecies that would be expected as a vagrant in North America, or at least more expected than the other forms."