Update: Purple Gallinule vagrancy in winter 2015

Team BirdCast spent some effort last year to discuss vagrancy in Purple Gallinules in late fall and winter (see this post). As a very short addendum to that story, we have been looking at the track record for vagrant gallinules so far this winter: several interesting records have already come to light including 1 from Morocco, 1 from the Cape Verde Islands, 2 (together!) from a North Atlantic vessel off Newfoundland, and 1 in Massachusetts. Birders in northeastern North America should certainly watch (safely!) the rapidly intensifying Winter Storm Juno (a dangerous system with heavy snow, high winds, and serious waves) with interest, as this sort of system may be just to type (in terms of its intensity and track) to deposit more gallinules far afield.