Western Birds Journal

Volume 57, No. 1

Published February 2, 2026

Issue description

Volume 57, number 1 of Western Birds, published 2026

Articles

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    W. DAVID SHUFORD, KRISTIE N. NELSON (Author)

    HISTORICAL AND CURRENT BREEDING STATUS OF THE PEREGRINE FALCON IN THE EASTERN SIERRA OF MONO AND INYO COUNTIES, CALIFORNIA

    Historical data suggest that over 100 pairs of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) were nesting in California prior to the mid-1940s. Because of the deleterious effects of DDE, a sharp decline began in the 1950s, and by 1970 only about 5% of the population remained. Following pesticide restrictions and aggressive management and recovery efforts using captive-bred Peregrines, the population rebounded rapidly and continues to increase into the 21st century. Although information necessary to enable the species’ conservation was circulated, few details on its historical and recent breeding status at either the statewide or regional level have been published. Here we report available details for breeding Peregrines in the eastern Sierra Nevada of Mono and Inyo counties. Data on seven suspected historical breeding locations are sparse. Since 2005, breeding has been verified or suspected at 14 locations, 11 spanning the length of Mono County and 3 at dispersed locations in Inyo County. Of these, four were newly identified in 2025. Despite the dramatic comeback, vigilance and monitoring are needed. Notably, Peregrine mortality from highly pathogenic avian influenza may be an important cause of population decline in many regions of North America, including California, since 2022. Although the effects appear to have been greatest in coastal areas, where the falcons depend heavily on shorebirds and waterfowl (known to carry avian flu), problems have surfaced inland, including possibly at the base of the eastern Sierra where these prey concentrate in spring and summer at saline lakes and freshwater reservoirs.

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    EDWARD R. PANDOLFINO, LILY A. DOUGLAS (Author)

    CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT DATA CONFIRM NORTHWARD CONTRACTION OF THE NONBREEDING RANGE OF THE WHITE-WINGED SCOTER

    Analysis of 50 years (1974/75–2023/24) of 123 Christmas Bird Counts along the east and west coasts of North America and in the Great Lakes region reveals a substantial decline of the White-winged Scoter (Melanitta deglandi) along the more southern segments of its winter range. All 16 of the California count circles examined showed a decline, which from Sonoma County south averaged 8.5% per year over the 50 years. The segment from Washington to northwestern California saw a smaller but still significant decline of 2.2% per year, while on counts in British Columbia and Alaska White-winged Scoter numbers increased slightly, at rate of 1.4% per year. On the east coast, from New Jersey south to Florida, White-winged Scoter numbers declined 5.8% per year, as well as in 18 of the 22 count circles in that segment. The northern and central segments of the east coast showed smaller but significant declines of 1.4 and 0.6% per year, respectively. The Great Lakes host fewer wintering White-winged Scoters than does either coast; Christmas Bird Count data from that region showed no clear trend. It is unclear whether our findings reflect a decline in the White-winged Scoter’s population rangewide, a northward shift in the coastal nonbreeding range into areas not well surveyed by Christmas Bird Counts, or combination of the two. The increase in sea-surface temperatures on both coasts of approximately 1o C since the 1970s may be a factor.

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    AARON J. WORKS (Author)

    A REVIEW OF LIFE-STAGE-SPECIFIC PREDATORS OF FOUR ENDEMIC HAWAIIAN WATERBIRDS

    Hawaiian wetlands provide habitat for seven indigenous waterbirds. Of the six endemic to Hawai‘i, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated five as endangered and one as threatened; maintaining their populations requires control of introduced species of predators. Their susceptibility to depredation varies by life stage, and they should be managed strategically to offset vulnerabilities specific to each life stage. A review of the literature for life-stage-specific predators of the eggs, chicks, and adults of the endemic Hawaiian Duck (Anas wyvilliana, koloa maoli), Hawaiian Coot (Fulica alai, ‘alae ke‘oke‘o), Hawaiian Gallinule (Gallinula galeata sandvicensis, ‘alae ‘ula), and Hawaiian Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni, ae‘o) yielded 99 sources and identified 17 predators, encompassing birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Eleven species of predators took eggs or chicks; only four took adults. Although some predators may have been reported taking only one of the waterbirds, it is likely they pose at least some risk to all four taxa. However, variation in behavior and habitat among the four waterbirds may lead to slightly different predation pressures. Aquatic predators likely have a propensity for the more aquatic duck, coot, and gallinule chicks. Managers of Hawaiian waterbirds will require many tools and resources to combat predators that occupy land, air, and water, but control should focus on the most devastating taxa—nonnative birds and mammals.

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    KONSHAU DUMAN (Author)

    CHIP CALLS IN THE WESTERN AND EASTERN WOOD-PEWEES

    The chip call of the Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens) is a frequently cited feature of that species’ vocal repertoire, but similar calls of the Western Wood-Pewee (C. sordidulus) are usually overlooked. Differences in this call between the two species would aid in field identification of migrants, which rarely sing their diagnostic songs. Cross-correlations of audiospectrograms, comparisons of three audiospectrographic measures, and qualitative analysis of spectrograms show that most chip calls of the Eastern Wood-Pewee are not distinguishable from those of the Western Wood-Pewee, and Eastern chip calls are generally more variable than those of the Western. These analyses also show that the two wood-pewees are more similar to each other than they are to their respective sister taxa. This similarity raises questions about the role of chip calls in the behavior of Contopus species, especially as it relates to potentially shared functions and sources of selection in their nonbreeding ranges.

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    ROBERT L. SCHER (Author)

    WING-STRIPE METRICS FOR IDENTIFYING SUBSPECIES OF THE ROCK SANDPIPER

    Identification in formative and basic plumage of two of the three subspecies of the Rock Sandpiper breeding in Alaska—Calidris ptilocnemis tschuktschorum and C. p. couesi—remains problematic, although a difference in the white wing stripe has been reported qualitatively. For all three of Alaska’s breeding subspecies, including C. p. ptilocnemis, I used three criteria to quantify the wing stripe on each of the inner primaries and on the outer and middle secondaries of numerous specimens and birds photographed. The white stripe is significantly more extensive in tschuktschorum than in couesi, and even more extensive in ptilocnemis, but there is overlap, especially near the zones of contact between the subspecies. The combined criteria can support subspecific identification, of at least some Rock Sandpipers, even in the formative and basic plumages.

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    JAKE XIA (Author)

    SECOND RECORD OF THE TROPICAL PARULA IN CALIFORNIA AND THE SPECIES’ STATUS IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES

    A Tropical Parula (Setophaga pitiayumi) photographed and audio-recorded in Big Dalton Canyon, Los Angeles County, 12–14 May 2024 established a second record of the species for California and the first in spring or summer. Another sighting at the Switzer Picnic Area, 30.5 km to west but also within the San Gabriel Mountains, 4 July–26 September 2024, likely represented the same individual. Only the two northernmost subspecies of the Tropical Parula are partially migratory, S. p. nigrilora, which nests in eastern Mexico and north into south Texas, and S. p. pulchra, which is found along the Sierra Madre Occidental. The broad white wingbars, deep orange flanks, and pattern of the song identify the bird in the San Gabriel Mountains as pulchra. Narrower wingbars, paler flanks, and pattern of the song identify California’s previous Tropical Parula, at Huntington Beach, Orange Co., 5 January–14 February 2018, as nigrilora. Despite its relatively sedentary nature, the Tropical Parula has been detected as a vagrant in Colorado, Kansas, northern Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and now at least twice in California.

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    ZACHARY M. POHLEN, JAMES A. JOHNSON, R. BRADLEY BENTER, JOEL HELM (Author)

    FIRST NORTH AMERICAN RECORD OF THE ORIENTAL HONEY-BUZZARD (PERNIS PTILORHYNCHUS)

    On 27 May 2024, Pohlen and Benter observed an adult female Oriental Honey-buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus) at Eareckson Air Station, Shemya Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska—a first record for North America. The presence of six prominent primaries, cinnamon underside, and absence of dark carpal patches are diagnostic of this species and exclude the European Honey-buzzard (P. apivorus), a similar-looking congener unknown in North America.

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    EDWARD R. PANDOLFINO (Author)

    Book Review: Birds of the Pacific States

    If you ask almost any birder to name the person who created the first modern field guide to North American birds, one designed to help identify birds in the field, pointing out a few key field marks for each along with descriptions of their sounds—you will be confidently assured that Roger Tory Peterson was that person. It turns out that “almost any birder” would be dead wrong.