Western Birds Journal

Volume 47, No. 1

Published January 1, 2016

Issue description

Volume 47, number 1 of Western Birds, published 2016

Articles

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    STEPHEN C. ROTTENBORN, GUY McCASKIE, BRIAN E. DANIELS, JOHN GARRETT (Author)

    THE 39TH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE: 2013 RECORDS

    he California Bird Records Committee reached decisions on 285 records involving 562 individuals of 68 species and three species groups documented since the 38th report (Pike et al. 2014), endorsing 254 records of 532 individuals of 63 species and three species groups. First accepted state records of the Tundra Bean-Goose (Anser serrirostris), Nazca Booby (Sula granti), Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis), Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus), and Common Swift (Apus apus) outlined in this report bring California’s total list of accepted species to 658, 11 of which are established introductions. Other notable records detailed in this report include the state’s first Gray Hawk (Buteo plagiatus) during its return for a second winter, second Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus), fourth Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla), and the largest incursions yet of the Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii), Neotropic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus), Yellow-green Vireo (Vireo flavoviridis), and Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea).

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    ALAN R. OLSEN, MILANG EBERDONG, HEATHER KETEBENGANG, PRINCESS BLAILES , PO-HAO CHEN (Author)

    SURVEY OF MEGAPODE NESTING MOUNDS IN PALAU, MICRONESIA

    The Palau subspecies of the Micronesian Megapode, Megapodius laperouse senex, incubates its eggs by burying them in earthen nesting mounds built on level forested terrain near a beach. As a contribution to a better understanding of the abundance and distribution of Palau’s megapodes, we surveyed 122 beach sites for active nesting mounds. We detected birds at 61 sites and found 173 active mounds distributed over 53 of the 61 sites. Eighty-six percent of the active mounds were concentrated in or near a conservation area in southern Palau (55%) and on an atoll in northern Palau (31%). Following a super typhoon, we found undamaged six of 19 active nesting mounds at five sites in southern Palau. Megapodes eventually restored nine of the damaged mounds and abandoned the other four. After a stronger super typhoon struck northern Palau less than a year later, we confirmed the survival of megapodes and active nesting mounds on the atoll but were unable to search our original survey sites thoroughly because of impassable debris fields.

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    W. DAVID SHUFORD, GARY W. PAGE, SACHA K. HEALTH, KRISTIE N. NELSON (Author)

    FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE SNOWY PLOVER AT MONO LAKE, CALIFORNIA

    The Snowy Plover is a species at risk, yet surveys of its numbers at most interior nesting sites in California have been infrequent. We surveyed the nesting population at one of the state’s key sites at Mono Lake at the edge of the Great Basin near Yosemite National Park in 6 years from 1978 to 2014. Diversions of inflowing streams caused the lake level to decline steadily from 1941 to 1981, increasing the amount of exposed lakebed available for nesting and foraging plovers. Subsequently, the level has generally risen, despite periodic reversals, since diversions were curtailed in 1989. Numbers of adult plovers at Mono Lake declined from 384 in 1978 to 71 in 2007, over a relatively narrow range of rising lake levels. In all years, plovers were distributed around the lake unevenly, with most on the northern and eastern shoreline. We found a positive relationship between the amount of exposed lakebed and the number of plovers detected on surveys. Plover numbers at Mono Lake may be limited by the amount and quality of alkali playa for nesting and foraging, low population density as an adaptation to high rates of nest predation, and perhaps by birds shifting to improved habitat at nearby Owens Lake. In coming years, provided the lake rises to the target elevation of 6392 feet (1948.3 m), the extent of the plover’s habitat will shrink, calling for more frequent monitoring.

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    DAWN FLETCHER, DAVID VANDER PLUYM, MEL PRESTON, AMY LEIST (Author)

    CANYON WRENS BREEDING IN DESERT RIPARIAN VEGETATION: FIRST RECORDS IN A NOVEL HABITAT

    The Canyon Wren (Catherpes mexicanus) is widespread but uncommon in the arid regions of western North America, typically breeding in rock faces and cliffs. Here we present the first records of the Canyon Wren breeding in riparian woodland, a habitat considered atypical for this species. Additionally, we recorded the species’ first known nesting in a live palm tree (Washingtonia filifera). As part of long-term monitoring of riparian birds for the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program, we recorded 89 nesting territories of the Canyon Wren from 2011 to 2014. Of 75 mapped territories, 31 were within dense riparian vegetation that included no cliffs or rocks.

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    DOU-SHUAN YANG, STEPHEN C. ROTTENBORN, SCOTT TERRILL, ADAM JAMES SEARCY, FRANCIS X. VILLABLANCA (Author)

    FIRST CALIFORNIA RECORDS OF THE LITTLE STINT AND NAZCA BOOBY CONFIRMED THROUGH MOLECULAR ANALYSIS

    We used molecular genetic analysis to assess the identification of two bird specimens otherwise difficult to identify with certainty. A Calidris sandpiper collected in 1974 had been identified at various times as the Little Stint (C. minuta) or as the Red-necked Stint (C. ruficollis). The remains of a booby salvaged in 2013 were identified as either the Nazca (Sula granti) or the Masked (S. dactylatra). We were able to identify the first as C. minuta and the second as S. granti, providing the first California records of each species.

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    STEWART W. JANES, LEE RYKER (Author)

    TYPE I AND II SONGS OF TOWNSEND’S WARBLERS IN OREGON AND WASHINGTON

    Songs of four populations of Townsend’s Warbler (Setophaga townsendi) studied in Oregon and Washington were of two types. Each population had one song-type with one song that was used early in the breeding season (type I) and a different song-type with one song delivered pre-dawn after pairing, during territorial contests, and often with chip-like call notes (type II). Both types were sung after dawn. Type I songs differed markedly from population to population. The boundaries between songs of adjacent populations were sharp, indicating a system of dialects, unlike many wood-warblers. In contrast, type II songs of all populations were recognizably similar.

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    ANDREY V. BUSHUEV, ELIZAVETA A. ERSHOVA (Author)

    A RECORD OF A SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN

    On the morning of 16 September 2015 we observed a Siberian Rubythroat (Luscinia calliope) in the helicopter hangar of the icebreaker Akademik Tryoshnikov, which was conducting the research expedition NABOS II (Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System). The ship’s position was close to 77° 09′ N, 171° 47′ E. We identified the bird (Figure 1) as a female in its year of hatching by the absolute lack of red on the throat and by the presence of light spots on the greater coverts. The bird looked exhausted, closed its eyes frequently, and allowed photographs at close range. It accepted water offered by expedition members. After several hours of rest the bird left the hangar, and it was never seen again. The ship’s location was ~600 km northeast of Novaya Sibir, in the New Siberian Islands, and ~800 km north of Wrangel Island. The Siberian Rubythroat’s breeding range lies below the Arctic Circle (Gladkov 1954, Collar 2005) and extends as far east as the Anadyr River basin (Tomkovich 2008), in Chukotka. In Alaska it occurs as a migrant in the western Aleutian Islands and as a casual visitant on the Bering Sea islands (Gibson and Withrow 2015); as far west and south as the British Isles it is a vagrant (BOU 2013). We are not aware of any other records of this species from the high Arctic. During the week prior to this discovery, the ship plied the Arctic Ocean between latitudes 75° and 80° N. Since this species winters in southeast Asia (Gladkov 1954, Collar 2005), this young female’s misorientation was not adaptive behavior.

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    Steven Mlodinow (Author)

    BOOK REVIEW: Rare Birds of North America

    Vagrant birds capture the imagination of nearly all birders. How did that Dusky Warbler reach California’s Farallon Islands? How did Terry Wahl identify that Solander’s Petrel off Washington? Weren’t Conover and Myers lucky to find that Crowned Slaty Flycatcher in Louisiana? We find ourselves fascinated by a bird’s ability to wander far astray as well as by birders’ abilities to locate and identify these wayward creatures. In 1996, Cottridge and Vinicombe (Rare Birds of Britain and Ireland, HarperCollins Publishers) produced a solid summary of what was known about the mechanisms of bird vagrancy, perhaps the first such summary widely available to birders. Bertholdt’s Bird Migration: A General Survey (2001, Oxford University Press) was both excellent and accessible to non-ornithologists, but devoted little space to errant migration. In 2008, Newton (The Migration Ecology of Birds, Academic Press) penned a truly comprehensive but exhausting discussion of bird migration that is peppered with errors. Despite these resources, avid birders and field ornithologists were still lacking a comprehensive yet concise review of bird migration and vagrancy. That problem has been solved by the publication of an extraordinary book: Rare Birds of North America. This volume provides the keys to understanding how a Dusky Warbler might arrive in central California, how to identify a Solander’s Petrel, and why the finding of a Crowned Slaty Flycatcher in coastal Louisiana might be more than luck.

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    David E. Quady (Author)

    BOOK REVIEW: Solano County Breeding Bird Atlas

    Less than one year after California’s Napa-Solano Audubon Society published its lavishly illustrated, coffee table-sized Breeding Birds of Solano County (BBSC), Murray Berner’s Solano County Breeding Bird Atlas has appeared. It is a handy-sized book that aims “to present a basic representation of Solano County and its breeding bird atlas, including sufficient information to prepare and entice the reader to read every species account—the location of almost everything we know about the breeding birds of Solano.” It succeeds admirably.

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS

     The board of Western Field Ornithologists and the editorial team of Western Birds thank the following generous contributors who gave to WFO’s publication, scholarship, and general funds in 2015. The generosity of our members in sustaining WFO is an inspiration to us all.

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    JAY CARLISLE (Author)

    FEATURED PHOTO: SOUTHERNMOST BREEDING OF THE NORTHERN HAWK OWL IN THE UNITED STATES

    In North America, the Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula) breeds across the boreal forest of Canada and Alaska and is generally rare and irruptive in the coterminous United States (Duncan and Duncan 2014). Over the last two decades, multiple instances of breeding have been documented in northern Montana and Washington (Jessica Larson, Owl Research Institute, in litt., 2015; Washington Bird Records Committee [WBRC] 2015), suggesting that it is a rare but regular part of the breeding avifauna of the interior Northwest. In the last two decades 32 attempts at nesting have been documented in Glacier National Park and the nearby Flathead National Forest in northwestern Montana (J. Larson, in litt., 2015), as have two in Okanogan County in north-central Washington (WBRC 2015). Prior to 2014, there was a single breeding record in northern Idaho in 2001, at Snow Lake in Boundary County, and two additional summer (July and August) reports from northern Idaho (Idaho Bird Records Committee [IBRC] 2015). Most of the prior reports from Idaho (22 in all, nine confirmed; IBRC 2015) were in late fall or winter, supporting its status in the state as an irruptive visitor, predominantly in the nonbreeding season.