Western Birds Journal

Volume 4, No. 1

Published September 9, 2025

Articles

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    EDITORIAL

    With this issue California Birds becomes Western Birds, and the journal’s geographic coverage expands to encompass states and provinces from the Rocky Mountains westward, including Alaska and Hawaii, western Texas, and adjacent portions of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. This expansion is designed to increase the flow of manuscripts, the shortage of which has made it impossible to publish California Birds on a regular schedule, and to provide a medium for publication of field studies from those areas of the West where no state or other local publication of a similar nature exists.

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    WESTERN BIRD PHOTOGRAPHERS

    Most birders tend to shy away from that aspect of bird study involving photography. Taking fine photographs of wild birds in their natural habitats requires skill, patience, and technical equipment of high caliber and most amateur ornithologists are not prepared to invest the necessary time and money in that phase of the hobby. Those who attempt it are frequently discouraged by the difficulty of the task and abandon their efforts after they realize the frustrations involved. Happily, however, more and more birders are carrying 35 millimeter cameras and short telephoto lenses with them in the field and when rare birds are sighted, identifiable (albeit not portrait) photos can be obtained without the necessity of shooting the bird in question.

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    Herbert Clarke (Author)

    FIFTEEN YEARS IN A BLIND

    My goal is to photograph satisfactorily all the species of birds of the United States. At this date my picture “life list” stands at well over 300. But I still have not decided what is a satisfactory photograph. I find that I am continually trying to get a better picture of an already photographed species.

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    Sanford R. Wilbur (Author)

    THE RED-SHOULDERED HAWK IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES

    The Pacific Coast race of the Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus elegans) has been the object of ornithological concern for many years. Shortly after the turn of the century, Willett (1912) noted its apparent increasing scarcity in portions of coastal Southern California, and Dawson (1924) thought the species was “sharply on the wane”. More recently, the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (1968) included it on a list of “status undetermined” wildlife — possibly rare or endangered but sufficient information not available. After a partial examination of distribution records, Cohen (1970) concluded that western Red-shouldered Hawk numbers were reduced and would continue to decline due to habitat loss. However, Brown (1971) analyzed Christmas Bird Count data and could see no significant change in California populations from 1950 through 1969. Therefore, current status has remained unclear.

    From January 1970 through July 1972, I continued to add to the Red-shouldered Hawk record by personal observation, continuing review of the literature, and through inspection of the field notes of cooperators. Results of this review are discussed below.

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    C. S. Lawson (Author)

    NOTES: ON PELECANIFORMES IN NEVADA

    Six species of Pelecaniformes occur or have occurred in Nevada. Two, White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) and Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) are common, have been well noted in the literature and will not be discussed here. Of the remaining four, Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii), Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster), and Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) only the Brown Pelican and Magnificent Frigatebird appear in the literature on Nevada birds. The occurrence of the Blue-footed Booby and Brown Booby in Nevada has been discovered only recently, their occurrence being briefly noted in American Birds (Monson 1972a).

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    NOTES: FIRST RECORD FOR THE SWAMP SPARROW IN WASHINGTON STATE

    On 25 February 1973 I discovered a Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) at Lake Sammamish State Park, King County, Washington. The bird responded to “pishing” directed at a Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) which was singing from a shrubby line of willow (Salix sp.) and blackberry (Rubus sp.) bordering the parking lot at the park. A Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) was also present in the same bush. The bird responded well for several minutes providing four unobstructed views at eye level from a distance of fifteen feet (using 8×36 Bushnell binoculars).