Western Birds Journal

Volume 4, No. 4

Published October 1, 1973

Articles

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    ALAN BALDRIDGE (Author)

    THE STATUS OF THE BROWN PELICAN IN THE MONTEREY REGION OF CALIFORNIA: PAST AND PRESENT

    The status of the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) in California up to 1968 has been summarized by Schreiber and DeLong (1969), to 1970 by Schreiber and Risebrough (1972) and to 1972 by Anderson and Anderson (unpublished).

    Central California’s Monterey Bay region is important to Brown Pelicans, both as a former breeding area and as a very important feeding area during the northward post-breeding dispersal. It seems worthwhile to document their status there in more detail.

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    JON WINTER (Author)

    THE CALIFORNIA FIELD ORNITHOLOGISTS RECORDS COMMITTEE REPORT 1970-1972

    In the first issue of California Birds (1:2-3, 1970) the formation of the Records Committee¹ was announced. The need for the committee and the format for the submission of reports has been outlined (Winter, Calif. Birds 2:109-110, 1971), and a list of species that the committee would review has been published (C.F.O. Field List of the Birds of California, 1972). The following is the first report from the Records Committee and includes the years 1970-1972.

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    WARDENE WEISSER (Author)

    NOTES: A MIXED PAIR OF SAPSUCKERS IN THE SIERRA NEVADA

    On 26 June 1973 I saw an adult Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber) fly across a small meadow accompanied by another sapsucker so different from the former that it aroused my curiosity. The meadow is near Lee Vining Creek at about 7200 feet elevation on the east side of the Sierra Nevada and only a short distance off the Tioga Pass Road in Mono County, California.

    On 1 July I again located this pair in dense Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) and Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) along Lee Vining Creek. It was apparent I had a mixed pair of birds, the mate being a Red-naped Sapsucker (S. nuchalis). The latter was identified as a female by its white chin and upper throat. After watching them for a short time I located their nest in an Aspen (Figure 1). The nest cavity was about four feet off the ground on the south side of the trunk and had clearly been made that year since the ground below was heavily littered with fresh wood chippings. Both birds were seen entering the nest cavity with food, and the voices of young birds were heard.

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    R. L. “REX” VAN WORMER (Author)

    TRUMPETER SWANS WINTERING IN SOUTHWESTERN WASHINGTON

    Historically, both Whistling and Trumpeter swans (Olor columbianus and O. buccinator) wintered in southwestern Washington and on the Columbia River. Lewis and Clark reported an abundant swan population and noted the difference in the abundance of the two species (Allen, P., History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky Mountains down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, performed during the years 1804-1805-1806. By order of the Gov. of U. S., Bradford and Inkeep, Phil. 2, 1814).

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    BRAD SCHRAM (Author)

    A TRUMPETER SWAN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

    On 22 January 1973 my family and I were on the Carrizo Plain at Soda Lake in San Luis Obispo County. At Ramer Lake, a small pond approximately 0.2 mile south of the town of California Valley, I saw two white birds on the opposite shore, little more than 100 yards distant. Training a 20x telescope on the birds, I saw them to be swans, both apparently mature in plumage. As the swans swam about I could see that one was significantly larger than the other. The larger swan had a head much the shape of a Canvasback’s (Aythya valisineria). It became obvious the smaller bird was the expected Whistling Swan (Olor columbianus), and the larger a Trumpeter Swan (Olor buccinator). Desiring to get a photographic record, I returned to the car and put a 640mm lens on my camera, and getting as close as I dare to the birds, took a half dozen pictures. The pictures clearly show a Whistling Swan with a Trumpeter Swan (Figure 1).

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    MARTIN L. MORTON, GALEN A. MORTON (Author)

    NEW ALTITUDE RECORD FOR MALLARD NESTING IN CALIFORNIA

    The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is a year-around, widely distributed resident of California. It is known to breed at a great range of altitudes, from seacoast marshes to mountain lakes of the Sierra Nevada. Nests have been found as high as 1897 m (6225 ft) near Lake Tahoe (Grinnell, Bryant and Storer, The Game Birds of California, Univ. Calif. Press, 1918) and 2286 m (7500 ft) in Yosemite National Park (Grinnell and Miller, The Distribution of the Birds of California, Pacific Coast Avifauna No. 27, 1944). We have found no additional records indicating that Mallards breed higher than this in the Sierra Nevada. Therefore, we report herein our observations of a Mallard nest found in a subalpine meadow on the east side of Tioga Pass, Mono County, at an altitude of 3002 m (9850 ft).

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    BULLETIN BOARD

    The Pacific Seabird Group will hold its first annual meeting in Seattle, Washington, 6-8 December 1974. A symposium on The Ecology and Biology of Alcids will be co-chaired by Dr. M. D. F. Udvardy and Dr. Spencer Sealy. Papers on the biology-ecology of other sea birds will also be presented. Individuals interested in attending the meeting or presenting a paper should contact the chairman of the local committee on arrangements, Dr. David A. Manuwal, College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195. J. Michael Scott, Chairman, Pacific Seabird Group.