Western Birds Journal

Volume 36, No. 3

Published July 1, 2005

Issue description

Volume 36, number 3 of Western Birds, published 2005

Articles

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    BRIAN L. SULLIVAN, ERIC L. KERSHNER (Author)

    THE BIRDS OF SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND

    With contributing authors JONATHAN J. DUNN, ROBB S. A. KALER, SUELLEN LYNN, NICOLE M. MUNKWITZ, and JONATHAN H. PLISSNER

    From 1992 to 2004, we observed birds on San Clemente Island, as part of our work toward the recovery of the island’s endangered species. We increased the island’s bird list to 317 species, by recording many additional vagrants and seabirds. The list includes 20 regular extant breeding species, 6 species extirpated as breeders, 5 nonnative introduced species, and 9 sporadic or newly colonizing breeding species.

    For decades San Clemente Island had been ravaged by overgrazing, especially by goats, which were removed completely in 1993. Since then, the island’s vegetation has begun recovering, and the island’s avifauna will likely change again as a result. We document here the status of that avifauna during this transitional period of regrowth, between the island’s being largely denuded of vegetation and a more natural state. It is still too early to evaluate the effects of the vegetation’s still partial recovery on birds, but the beginnings of recovery may have enabled the recent colonization of small numbers of Grasshopper Sparrows and Lazuli Buntings. Sponsored by the U.S. Navy, efforts to restore the island’s endangered species continue—among birds these are the Loggerhead Shrike and Sage Sparrow.

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    Steve N. G. Howell (Author)

    BOOK REVIEWS: Shorebirds of North America: the Photographic Guide: by Dennis Paulson. 2005. Princeton University Press. 384 pages, 534 color photos. Paperback, $29.95 (ISBN 0-691-12107-9); hardback, $65.00 (ISBN 0-691-10274-0).

    Some shorebirds are the epitome of wilderness—from Arctic tundra to the remote tidal flats of Tierra del Fuego—others, like the Killdeer, may be familiar in urban neighborhoods. All are wild and beautiful creatures, and their spectacular flocking, impressive migrations, and frequent identification challenges are among the reasons that shorebirds are popular with many birders and field ornithologists. This book (hereafter Shorebirds) will be welcomed by enthusiasts, but does it hold much for more general readers?

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    David Lukas (Author)

    BOOK REVIEWS: Introduction to California Birdlife: by Jules Evens and Ian Tait. 2005. University of California Press. xi + 382 pages, 150 color photographs, 4 line illustrations, 7 maps. Softback, $16.95. ISBN 0-520-24254-8.

    With more than 600 species of birds and the richest diversity of habitats found in any state, California is a paradise for birds and birdwatchers. This same complexity, however, has posed a daunting, even overwhelming, challenge for writers. Despite the seminal works of Dawson and of Grinnell and Miller, and a more recent contribution by Small, the nature of California birdlife remains largely unaddressed in a present-day context. Introduction to California Birdlife, by author and biologist Jules Evens and photographer Ian Tait, is the most recent effort in this distinguished lineage. Part of the California Natural History Guide Series published by the University of California Press, this book has the unique distinction of being an introduction to the state’s birdlife rather than an exhaustive treatment. While this approach limits the book’s usefulness as a reference tool, it makes it an ideal textbook for beginning birdwatchers, newcomers to California, and bird classes.

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    JOSEPH MORLAN (Author)

    FEATURED PHOTO: AN APPARENT HYBRID BETWEEN HOODED MERGANSER AND BARROW’S GOLDENEYE AT LAKE MERRITT, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

    Hybridization in birds usually occurs between closely related species within the same genus. Intergeneric hybrids are of particular interest because they may be evidence of a close relationship between two genera. Originally described in the genus Mergus, the Hooded Merganser (L. cucullatus) was segregated in the genus Lophodytes in 1853, and the American Ornithologists’ Union has maintained it in that genus through all seven editions of its checklist. Delacour and Mayr (1945), however, lumped Lophodytes back into Mergus, and some authors, such as Johnsgard (1975, 1979), have followed this classification. In some respects the Hooded Merganser is intermediate between Bucephala and Mergus (Johnsgard 1961, Dugger et al. 1994). In his studies of waterfowl morphology and relationships, Livezey (1986, 1995, 1997) maintained the genus Lophodytes. He found the Hooded Merganser to represent an early branch of the mergansers, lying outside a cluster including the Common (M. merganser) and Red-breasted (M. serrator) mergansers and just above the branch leading to the genera Bucephala and Mergellus.