Western Birds Journal

Volume 23, No. 2

Published April 1, 1992

Issue description

Volume 23, number 2 of Western Birds, published 1992

Articles

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    DANIEL M. TAYLOR (Author)

    ABUNDANCE AND CHRONOLOGY OF MIGRANT SHOREBIRDS IN IDAHO

    The timing and abundance of shorebirds migrating through Idaho are inadequately known. Prior studies have been limited to anecdotal observations and annotated checklists with an emphasis on northern Idaho (Larrison et al. 1967, Burleigh 1972). This study revises and improves our knowledge of migrating shorebirds in the state. It also provides quantitative data on fall shorebird migration from two sites along the northern edge of the Great Basin, an area in North America where shorebird movement is poorly known (Morrison and Myers 1987). We show here that many species are much more abundant in Idaho than recorded by Larrison et al. (1967) or Burleigh (1972). For a few species this is also true for the Intermountain West as a whole.

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    STEVE N. G. HOWELL, SOPHIE WEBB, DAVID A. SIBLEY, LINA J. PRAIRIE (Author)

    FIRST RECORD OF A MELANISTIC NORTHERN HARRIER IN NORTH AMERICA

    On 16 January 1991, Prairie spotted a melanistic adult male Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) at the intersection of Road 70 and Road Z, between Butte Creek and the Sacramento River, about 6 miles northwest of Gray Lodge Waterfowl.

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    MICHAEL WHITT (Author)

    GRAPPLING IN BLACK-SHOULDERED KITES

    On 3 March 1990 at approximately 0645 hours a displaying Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus) attracted me by its continuous calling. The bird was flying back and forth low over a small grove of Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa), near the intersection of Point Reyes–Petaluma Road and Nicasio Valley Road in western Marin County, California. The kite was wing-fluttering, leg-dangling, and calling continuously, in a display that is best described as flutter flight. I then noticed another kite soaring above the calling bird. A third kite flew toward the soaring bird and the two birds locked talons, threw their wings back, and twirled slowly to earth from an estimated height of 100–150 feet (Figure 1). This behavior has been referred to as “grappling” (see Jaques 1973). A small rise prevented my seeing the birds below about 20 feet above the ground, when they were still engaged. One of the grappling birds reappeared above the rise and stooped once or twice on the other bird, which remained out of sight. The same two birds flew back up to about the same height and repeated the grappling four times before flying off, while the original kite continued its flutter flight.

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    CHARLES T. LaRUE, DAVID H. ELLIS (Author)

    THE COMMON GRACKLE IN ARIZONA: FIRST SPECIMEN RECORD AND NOTES ON OCCURRENCE

    The range expansion of the Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) into the western United States has been chronicled in recent issues of American Birds. Prior to this expansion, the species, while common in the eastern states (Dolbeer and Stehn 1979), was considered rare or local in the states surrounding Arizona. Sclater (1912) described the Common Grackle as locally common in summer in the plains and foothills of eastern Colorado. By 1940, the species had been reported twice in the Rocky Mountains (Bailey and Niedrach 1965). It subsequently spread into western Colorado (Kingery and Graul 1978, Chase et al. 1982), and increased rapidly there in the mid-1980s (Kingery 1986). In Utah, Hayward et al. (1976) considered it to be an accidental visitor, but in 1979 M. Perry saw four individuals near Altonah, Duchesne County (C. S. Robbins pers. comm.). By 1984, Behle et al. (1985) listed the Common Grackle as a rare summer resident, nesting at Vernal and possibly at Green River and Utah Lake. Kingery (1987a) reported nesting at Moab, Utah. Rysk (1985) considered the species rare in the Great Basin, but Kingery (1987a, b) reported it breeding at Buhl and Stillwater, Nevada. Vagrants are also known from Oregon, Washington, California, and Alaska (Roberson 1980).

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    ROBIN K. PANZA, KENNETH C. PARKES (Author)

    BAJA CALIFORNIA SPECIMENS OF PARUS GAMBELI BAILEYAE

    Grinnell and Swarth (1926) described a Baja California subspecies of the Mountain Chickadee as Penthestes (now Parus) gambeli atratus, separating it from P. g. baileyae of southern California on the basis of longer tail, darker general coloration, and restriction of the white supercilium. The range as then known was confined to the Sierra San Pedro Mártir, at altitudes from 6000 to 8500 feet. Later Grinnell (1928) added the more northerly Sierra Juárez to the range of atratus, citing localities at 4200 and 5200 feet. He reported that “some individuals seek somewhat lower levels adjacent in winter,” and listed November and December specimens from El Valle de Trinidad, 2500 feet; this locality is “the valley leading westward from the pass which separates the Sierra Juárez from the Sierra San Pedro Mártir, about lat. 31°20'.” He also quoted Anthony (1893), who stated of the Mountain Chickadee that “in winter it was seen about Valladares and along the lower valleys.” Valladares is at the base of the Sierra San Pedro Mártir at 30°54'N, 115°41'W, elevation (fide Grinnell 1928) 2700 feet.

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    PHILIP UNITT (Author)

    BOOK REVIEW: The Known Birds of North and Middle America

    When I was first becoming deeply interested in birds, many times did I read and reread the fifth edition of the A.O.U. Checklist of North American Birds and Grinnell and Miller’s Distribution of the Birds of California. Anyone familiar with these works knows that subspecies figure prominently in them. What are these subspecies, I wondered, and how could I learn to identify them? The A.O.U. Checklist and Grinnell and Miller were long on the where, said a little about the when, but were almost silent on the what. Field guides taught me how to distinguish species, but they tiptoed gingerly around—or ran in horror from—the identification of subspecies.