Vol. 49 No. 4 (2018) | Western Birds

GUY McCASKIE, STEPHEN C. ROTTENBORN, SCOTT B. TERRILL, THOMAS A. BENSON (Author)

THE 42nd ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE: 2016 RECORDS

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From its last report through 2016 the California Bird Records Committee reached decisions on 174 records involving 167 individuals of 68 species and two species groups, endorsing 139 records of 152 individuals. The first accepted state records of the Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima), Jouanin’s Petrel (Bulweria fallax), and Buff-breasted Flycatcher (Empidonax fulvifrons) are outlined in this report, as is the acceptance of the Oriental Greenfinch (Chloris sinica) to the main list based on reconsideration of a record that was previously not accepted. These additions bring California’s total list of accepted species to 667, of which 11 represent established introductions. Other notable records detailed in this report include the state’s second Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus), third Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor), and fourth Common Pochard (Aythya ferina).

FLOYD E. HAYES, DYLAN G. TURNER, NATHAN D. ZIMMERLY, ANUEL B. PERALTA, BRYAN J. McINTOSH, MYCHAL E. HELLIE (Author)

EGG DESTRUCTION BY MALES IN THE WESTERN GREBE AND CLARK’S GREBE

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Destruction of eggs in nests of a bird’s own species has been reported in many species of birds, including three species of grebes of the family Podicipedidae. We report for the first time four incidents of egg destruction by Western Grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis) and three by Clark’s Grebes (Aechmophorus clarkii) in mixed breeding colonies at Clear Lake, Lake County, California, from 2014 to 2017. All incidents occurred during the late stage of nesting within a colony. Five incidents of egg destruction occurred at three recently vacated nests in which the previous eggs had been removed by mammalian predators <24 hours earlier; the other two incidents occurred at nests with an unknown history. Egg destruction was perpetrated only by males. The eggs may have been destroyed to usurp nests or to prevent brood parasitism or cuckoldry. Because none of the eggs or adults were marked and no tissue samples were taken, it was impossible to be certain of the relationships among adults and eggs, and whether egg destruction was intraspecific or interspecific.

CHRISTOPHER W. SWARTH (Author)

THE BUMBLEBEE HUMMINGBIRDS (ATTHIS HELOISA) OF RAMSEY CANYON REVISITED

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The provenance of the two specimens constituting the only evidence of the occurrence of the Bumblebee Hummingbird in the United States has been questioned. But their origin in or near Ramsey Canyon, Arizona, in 1896 is confirmed from the journal of Harry S. Swarth, one of the four collectors who mounted an expedition to the Huachuca Mountains that year. In his journal, Swarth mentioned them as unidentified hummingbirds, one collected in Miller Canyon on 29 June 1896, the other in Brown’s Canyon, a side canyon of Ramsey Canyon, the following day.

DANIEL D. GIBSON (Author)

COMMON CUCKOO (CUCULUS CANORUS) COURTSHIP IN SOUTHWESTERN ALASKA AND SUMMARY OF OCCURRENCE IN THE STATE

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Imminent expansion of the breeding range of the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) from Asia to North America has been predicted by Dinets et al. (2015) and Ogden (2016), who pointed to the number of recent records of the species in Alaska as a response to continuing climate change. Their having postulated an “invasion” (Dinets et al. 2015:248) from the Russian Far East via the Bering Strait and their having referred without details to “a courting pair … in Alaska” (ibid.:245) have prompted the preparation of this note.

MICHAEL C. LONG, KIMBALL L. GARRETT (Author)

GREEN HERON PREYS UPON HUMMINGBIRDS

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On 5 February 2017, William Peebles photographed an adult Green Heron (Butorides virescens) capturing two separate hummingbirds at the Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia, Los Angeles Co., California. The encounter took place at the waterfall created in the south-central portion of the grounds. Peebles’ written description of the encounter is paraphrased in this note.

KRISTA LYONS (Author)

DEPREDATION OF BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD NESTLINGS BY YELLOWJACKETS

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The frequency and extent of predation on hummingbird nestlings by wasps of the family Vespidae is not well known. Among the 14 hummingbird accounts in the Birds of North America series, there are no documented records of vespids killing adults or young of any species of hummingbird. A further literature review returned only four reports of vespid predation of bird nestlings, supporting the conclusion that this type of predation is rare or underreported. On 29 July 2018 I observed the predation of two Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) nestlings by four to six yellowjackets (Vespula sp.) in the Highlands area of the Boise foothills in Idaho. I first became aware of the hummingbird nest, about 2 m off the ground on the lower branch of an ash (Fraxinus sp.) tree overhanging my ground-level deck, on 20 July. Later in the day I photographed the adult female hummingbird on the nest from a discreet distance (Figure 1A and B). I checked on the nest regularly with binoculars and photographed it in late morning and early evening, when sunlight fell on the nest. The adult female was observed on the nest from 20 to 24 July. On 24 July, I observed nestlings for the first time. I last photographed the nestlings on 28 July in the late morning, mid-afternoon, and early evening (Figure 1C, D, E, and F).

DESMOND SIEBURTH, DEVON A. DeRAAD, JAMES M. MALEY (Author)

EVIDENCE OF INTERGRADATION WITHIN THE GOLDEN-CHEEKED WOODPECKER

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The Golden-cheeked Woodpecker (Melanerpes chrysogenys), restricted to the Pacific slope of Mexico from Sinaloa to Oaxaca, comprises two subspecies. Nominate M. c. chrysogenys, identified by its extensively red crown, ranges from Sinaloa south to San Blas, Nayarit (Winkler and Christie 2017). Ridgway (1914) stated that near San Blas there is an abrupt transition from the reddish-naped M. c. chrysogenys to the yellow-naped M. c. flavinuchus, which is distributed southward to western Oaxaca. The subspecies also differ in the amount of yellow in the face, with flavinuchus averaging less yellow; this subspecies is also generally paler overall (Ridgway 1914). The distinction between these two subspecies, however, is perhaps not widely appreciated. For example, geographic variation in the crown pattern of the Golden-cheeked Woodpecker was not mentioned by Howell and Webb (1995), who illustrated only flavinuchus. The question of intergradation between the two subspecies has not been addressed in the literature previously. Therefore, we investigated it by evaluating 172 specimens in the collection of the Moore Laboratory of Zoology (MLZ), 14 specimens in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM), five specimens in the Dickey Bird and Mammal Collection of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and 31 specimens in the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology (WFVZ), Camarillo, California.

GARY H. ROSENBERG, DAVID J. STEJSKAL (Author)

FIRST RECORD OF THE PINE FLYCATCHER (EMPIDONAX AFFINIS) FOR ARIZONA AND THE UNITED STATES

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On the morning of 28 May 2016, Stejskal discovered an Empidonax flycatcher at Aliso Spring in the Santa Rita Mountains, Pima County, Arizona (31° 44’ 08” N, 110° 48’10” W). First hearing a distinctive “whit” note of an Empidonax, thinking it was likely from either a Dusky Flycatcher (E. oberholseri) or a Gray Flycatcher (E. wrightii), and realizing that either species would be unusual in southeastern Arizona in late May, he decided to locate and document the bird. Upon finding the flycatcher, he noticed that it appeared odd, appearing superficially like a Dusky but having an entirely orange lower mandible, as in a Western Flycatcher (E. occidentalis or E. difficilis). The bird also appeared to be investigating potential nesting sites, which would be unprecedented for either the Dusky Flycatcher or the Gray Flycatcher in this region of Arizona. That morning and afternoon, and the following morning, he photographed the bird extensively and recorded its call notes. Upon his return to Tucson on 29 May he sent both the photos and sound recordings to Chris D. Benesh and to Rosenberg for opinion and analysis. He suspected the bird was a Pine Flycatcher (E. affinis), with which he was familiar from the mountains of western Mexico. Benesh and Rosenberg compared the photos directly to photos published online of both the Dusky and Pine Flycatchers and, more importantly, compared sonograms of the call notes of the Aliso Spring bird directly to recordings of both the Dusky and Pine flycatchers that they had recorded and uploaded to www.xeno-canto.org

PETER PYLE, AMAR AYYASH, MARK B. BARTOSIK (Author)

REPLACEMENT OF PRIMARIES DURING PREALTERNATE MOLTS IN NORTH AMERICAN LARUS GULLS

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We document replacement of primaries during the prealternate molt in two and possibly three species of North American gulls of the genus Larus, including the fist report of such replacement in an adult Yellow-footed Gull (L. livens), the fist report in the Lesser Black-backed Gull (L. fuscus) in the Americas, and possibly the fist report for the American Herring Gull (L. argentatus smithsonianus). The incidence and extent of replacement of primaries is greater during the second prealternate than during subsequent prealternate molts, which is likely related to second-cycle molts in Larus being earlier than the subsequent molts. The second prealternate molt of the Lesser Black-backed Gull includes up to all flght feathers (but not all wing coverts). The sequence of replacement of primaries during the prealternate molt matches that of the prebasic molt, starting at the innermost primary and proceeding distally; however, the sequence of replacement of secondaries can differ from that during the prebasic
molt, perhaps because of a difference in the underlying mechanisms controlling these molts. Prealternate molt of inner primaries can begin before prebasic molt of outer primaries is completed, a pattern resembling Staffelmauser, but all evidence suggests that the ensuing prebasic molt of the primaries begins at p1, as in terns, rather than at the point where the inner molt wave is suspended, as during Staffelmauser in other large volant birds. We propose that the occurrence and extent of prealternate molt of the remiges in Larus is correlated with the latitude at which an individual winters and/or the timing of the prebasic molt the year before, as much as or more so than with phylogeny. The possible replacement of primaries during the second prealternate molt in North American but not European subspecies of the Herring Gull could relate to some individuals of the American subspecies wintering farther south.

The WFO Scholarship Committee (Author)

WFO SCHOLARS: THE FUTURE OF FIELD ORNITHOLOGY

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As any of you who attend our annual conferences have seen, WFO’s Youth Scholarship program has been a tremendous success, with more and more recipients each year. The fact that so many of our past scholarship recipients return year after year is particularly gratifying, and that certainly skews our demographics toward the younger side!

PHILIP UNITT (Author)

THANKS TO WESTERN BIRDS’ REVIEWERS AND ASSOCIATE EDITORS

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Peer review is a critical step in the publication of a scientific journal. I thank the following people for their generosity in taking the time to provide this essential service sustaining the scientific quality of Western Birds for volume 49