Western Birds Journal

Volume 31, No. 4

Published October 1, 2000

Issue description

Volume 31, number 4 of Western Birds, published 2000

Articles

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    DANIEL S. COOPER (Author)

    BREEDING LANDBIRDS OF A HIGHLY THREATENED OPEN SPACE: THE PUENTE-CHINO HILLS ,CALIFORNIA

    Surveys of breeding birds in the remaining 20,000 ha of open space in the Puente-Chino Hills of southern California during spring and early summer 1997 and 1998 revealed several species declining or nearing extirpation in the Los Angeles area. This report represents the first treatment of the distribution of the birds of this fast-disappearing natural area. From data collected on point counts and transects, three areas appear in need of immediate conservation action for bird diversity in the Puente-Chino Hills to be maintained: the coastal sage scrub of northern Brea/Yorba Linda, the grassland of southern Rowland Heights, and the grassland of upper Tonner Canyon.

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    SCOTT H. STOLESON, ROLAND S. SHOOK, DEBORAH M. FINCH (Author)

    BREEDING BIOLOGY OF LUCY'S WARBLER IN SOUTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO

    We found Lucy's Warblers breeding abundantly in mid-elevation broadleaf riparian forests in the lower Gila River valley of southwestern New Mexico. They arrived en masse in the third week of March. Patterns of singing suggested that Lucy's Warblers might raise two broods. Few were heard or seen after late July. Estimated population densities ranged from 1.7 to 3.3 territories per ha, and Lucy's Warblers constituted up to 10% of the total bird territories in our study plots. We found 24 nests placed in cavities or behind loose bark. Large cottonwoods and willows were the preferred nesting substrates. Nesting success was high (83%). We found only two nests that had been parasitized by cowbirds, but observed five pairs feeding fledgling cowbirds.

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    DAVID G. MIKESIC, RUSSELL B. DUNCAN (Author)

    NOTES: HISTORICAL REVIEW OF ARIZONA'S NESTING NORTHERN HARRIERS, INCLUDING THE MOST RECENT CONFIRMED NESTING IN 1998

    The Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) is a widespread but locally distributed breeder in North America, ranging from Alaska across Canada to central Quebec and southern Newfoundland, south to Baja California, northern Texas, and Virginia (excluding many eastern states; MacWhirter and Bildstein 1996). It nests primarily in grassy marshes, both salt and fresh, wet prairie with tall grasses, in areas intermixed with woody growth, and also in agricultural areas(MacWhirter and Bildstein 1996, American Ornithologists' Union 1998).

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    MAUREEN E. FLANNERY, THOMAS GARDALI (Author)

    INCOMPLETE FIRST PREBASIC MOLT IN THE WRENTIT

    Flight-feather molt in most passerines begins with the innermost primary and proceeds distally, while the replacement of secondaries begins at the outermost feather and proceeds proximally (Ginn and Melville 1983; Pyle 1997a, 1998). During their first year, most passerines do not replace any flight feathers (i.e., the molt is partial), while a few replace some (i.e., the molt is incomplete) or all remiges (i.e., the molt is complete) (Jenni and Winkler 1994; Pyle 1997a).

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    DANIEL M. TAYLOR (Author)

    NOTES: STATUS OF THE YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO IN IDAHO

    The Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) is a rare bird in the western United States, with an estimated population of 475 to 675 pairs by the late 1980s (Laymon and Halterman 1987). Its historic range has contracted dramatically, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, where it disappeared as a breeding bird from British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon between the 1920s and 1950s (Roberson 1980; Gaines and Laymon 1984; Marshall et al. 1996). It is under review for listing as a threatened or endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and it is listed as endangered, threatened, or a species of concern by state wildlife agencies in California, Oregon, and Arizona (Hughes 1999).

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    JEAN-LUC E. CARTRON, GAIL L. GARBER, CAROL FINLEY, CHRISTOPHER RUSTAY, RON KELLERMUELLE, MARY PATDAY, PATRICIA MANZANO-FISHER, SCOTT H. STOLESON (Author)

    POWER POLE CASULTIES AMONG RAPTORS AND RAVENS IN NORTHWESTERN CHIHUAHUA , MEXICO

    On 11 and 12 February 2000, we searched for dead raptors and ravens beneath 1,612 consecutive power poles near the village of San Pedro (30°51'N, 108°23'W) in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico. Two of us (Cartron and Manzano-Fisher) resurveyed 214 consecutive poles along two power lines on 23 and 24 March 2000. The area we surveyed represents one of the few well-preserved grasslands left in Mexico (Miller et al. 1994). It supports the largest complex of Black-tailed Prairie-dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) towns remaining in North America (Ceballos et al. 1993), along with relatively high numbers of wintering and nesting raptors (Manzano-Fisher et al. 1999). Power lines are also present in the area, some of them built at the edge of, or within, the boundaries of prairie-dog colonies.

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    PHILIP UNITT (Author)

    GRAY VIREOS WINTERING IN CALIFORNIA ELEPHANT TREES

    The Gray Vireo (Vireo vicinior) winters primarily in Sonora and Baja California Sur (e.g., Barlow et al. 1999). There are scattered winter records from the Mexican states of Durango (Leukering and Bradley 1997), Coahuila (Howell and Webb 1995), and San Luis Potosí (Fry et al. 1996). North of the Mexican border, the only winter records are from the Big Bend area of Texas (Barlow and Wauer 1971) and southern, primarily southwestern Arizona, north to the Kofa Mountains (Phillips et al. 1964). There are no published winter records for Upper California.

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    MATT HEINDEL, STEVE N. G. HOWELL (Author)

    FEATURERD PHOTO: A HYBRID HUMMINGBIRD IN SOUTHEAST ARIZONA

    Hybridization in hummingbirds is relatively frequent (e.g., Banks and Johnson 1961, Short and Phillips 1966, Wells et al. 1978, Pyle 1997), posing potential pitfalls for banders and other field ornithologists working with the Trochilidae. Adult males excepted, most North American hummingbirds are similar enough that most hybrids will almost certainly escape detection, even in the hand; moreover, only males showing a markedly "wrong" combination of characters are likely to stand out as hybrids. Just as hybrids must be considered prior to the identification of a rare gull, so must they be with hummingbirds.