Volume 5, number 1 of Western Birds, published 1974
Various aspects of the winter biology of Dunlins (Calidris alpina) have been studied in California by Storer (1951), Recher (1966), Holmes (1966a, b, 1971), Gerstenberg (1972) and Jurek (1973). Recent studies at Bolinas Lagoon provide information that supplements and in certain details, contradicts previously published accounts. This paper reports on age and sex ratios, molt and migration of Dunlins at Bolinas Lagoon.
Late in the afternoon of 30 June 1973 we observed a loon offshore at Pete’s El Paraiso approximately 9 miles by road north of San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico. Upon setting up our 20x spotting scope we were amazed to discover that it had a very large, very yellow bill.
The AOU Check-list (1957) lists Destruction Island in northern Washington as the most southerly known breeding site of the Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata). Since then and particularly since the late 1960s, several new breeding sites of this species have been discovered in British Columbia, Oregon and California. The status of C. monocerata in the southern part of its range is either changing or at least becoming better known. In this paper we wish to 1) report some additional breeding sites in the southern part of this species’ range, 2) summarize all the new records of the past ten years, and 3) comment on the significance of these records. We also compare Rhinoceros Auklet activity patterns during the breeding season in the new southern extreme of their range with their activity patterns farther north.
Albino Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) photographed 28 May 1974 on a rocky serpentine slope at Laguna Lake Park, San Luis Obispo, California. First noted 17 December 1973 on the Morro Bay Christmas Bird Count, the bird subsequently established a territory. From its song and actions we presumed it to be a male. A second albino seen on the same slope the day of the Christmas count was not seen again.
On 23 June 1973, at Ocean Shores, Grays Harbor County, Washington, Eugene Hunn and I observed an adult Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) in breeding plumage calling incessantly and diving at us as close as 15 feet. The bird seemed to be defending a territory in a flat sandy area covered with pebbles and broken seashells, surrounded by sand dunes, and situated near the tip of a mile-long sand spit extending from the southern tip of the Ocean Shores peninsula into the mouth of Grays Harbor. We searched for eggs and young but found none.