Western Birds Journal

Volume 44, No. 1

Published January 1, 2013

Issue description

Volume 44, number 1 of Western Birds, published 2013

Articles

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    DAVID J. MORIARTY (Author)

    A TWENTY-YEAR INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF FIRE ON A COASTAL SAGE SCRUB BIRD COMMUNITY

    From 1983 to 2003 I examined the effects of fire on the bird community of two 1.25-ha tracts of coastal sage scrub, Box Canyon and F Canyon, 0.4 km apart in a 31-ha reserve in Los Angeles County, California. Wildfire burned Box Canyon in 1981 and both sites in 1989. I observed 90 species in F Canyon, 80 in Box Canyon, of which 73 were seen in both. The same species were common throughout the 20-year period. F Canyon had more species per count than Box Canyon in both summer and winter. Immediately after the 1989 wildfire, observations of some species of open habitat increased, and observations of some species confined to shrubs decreased. Effects of the 1989 fire on the sites were of short duration. Differences between the sites in number of species attributed to the 1981 fire in earlier studies are confounded by differences between the sites.

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    MARTIN MEYERS (Author)

    2011 NEVADA BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE REPORT

     This report covers the 115 records reviewed by the Nevada Bird Records Committee in 2011, of which 110 were endorsed. These 115 records cover sightings from 24 October 1971 through 26 November 2011, 37 in 2011, 20 antedating the formation of the committee in 1994. Three species are added to the Nevada list (and to the committee’s review list): the Iceland Gull (Larus glaucoides), Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis), and Sedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis). The Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet (Camptostoma imberbe) is removed from the Nevada list (and review list) because evidence to substantiate the record is insufficient. Ten species are removed from the review list because of the number of records or regularity of occurrence. The Nevada state list now stands at 488 species, of which 167 are on the review list.

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    JEAN-LUC E. CARTRON, DEBORAH M. FINCH, DAVID L. HAWKSWORTH, SCOTT H. STOLESON (Author)

    NESTING ECOLOGY AND NEST SUCCESS OF THE BLUE GROSBEAK ALONG TWO RIVERS IN NEW MEXICO

    From 1997 through 2008, we studied the nesting habits and nest success of the Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea) along the middle Gila River (1997–2001) and the middle Rio Grande (2000–2008) in New Mexico. A riparian forest of cottonwoods grows along both rivers, but the forest along the Rio Grande is a much more intensively managed ecosystem, with an understory dominated by saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) and other non-native invasive plants, frequent wildfires, and large-scale attempts at remediation of the vegetation. Along the Gila River, 100 (95%) of 105 nests were in native shrubs or trees, and the mean height of all nests was 3.4 m. Of 85 nests found along the Rio Grande, 54 (64%) were in saltcedar and 16 (19%) were in other non-native shrubs or trees. Mean nest height was 2.2 m, significantly lower than along the Gila River. Nests were typically found along edges along both rivers but were placed significantly farther from water along the Gila River. In spite of these differences in nest placement, the observed proportion of successful nests along the two rivers did not differ significantly: 28 (47%) of 60 nests along the Rio Grande, 36 (54%) of 67 nests along the Gila River. Overall, differences between the two sites in floristic composition and vegetation structure appeared to affect the placement of Blue Grosbeak nests more than they did nest success.

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    KRISTIE N. NELSON, PETER PYLE (Author)

    DISTRIBUTION AND MOVEMENT PATTERNS OF INDIVIDUAL CRESTED CARACARAS IN CALIFORNIA

    There are now numerous records of the Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway) from California and elsewhere well north of its breeding range, but whether or not they represent wild birds or escapees from zoos or falconers has been debated. Through 2011, the California Bird Records Committee (CBRC) had accepted 49 records that they considered to represent naturally occurring vagrants, but decisions concerning the number of individuals involved in these records were haphazard. Therefore, we assessed the date, location, age, molt status, and appearance of caracaras representing 60 observations specific to date and location in California and propose that these records involve only 11 individuals, recorded between 1 and 34 times throughout the state; a twelfth individual was recorded from December 2011 to April 2012. Our 11-bird scenario was proposed and accepted by the CBRC in January 2012. This synthesis clarifies the species’ pattern of occurrence in California: ten of the 11 individuals were first detected in fall or winter, eight individuals were first detected in their first or second years, four of these eight were later detected at appropriate ages elsewhere in California, and six individuals moved north within the state. These patterns are consistent with birds moving north as wild vagrants and so support the CBRC’s decision to accept the Crested Caracara as a naturally occurring species. We hope that our analysis will help other records committees evaluate the status of this species in other regions, perhaps revealing a similar pattern of natural vagrancy throughout North America

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    ANN NIGHTINGALE , RON MELCER (Author)

    CONSPECIFIC NEST AGGRESSION OF THE PACIFIC WREN ON VANCOUVER ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA

    Five of the ten wren species in North America are known to destroy nests of conspecifics. These include the Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus), Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes bewickii), Sedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis), Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris), and House Wren (Troglodytes aedon). However, none of the Winter Wren complex, recently split as the Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis), Pacific Wren (T. pacificus), and Eurasian Wren (T. troglodytes), have been documented to do so in experiments or by observation of natural behavior. Here we present a detailed chronology of a nesting of the Pacific Wren—the first report of conspecific nest aggression in the Winter Wren complex. On 15 May 2011, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a Pacific Wren approached another’s nest under video surveillance and removed two 9-day-old chicks. The nonparental adult returned to the nest, apparently attempting to kill and/or remove the remaining two chicks, several times over 4.75 hours but was not successful. Although our findings are limited to a single event, they are consistent with those of other wrens.

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    ERIC A. VANDERWERF (Author)

    FIRST RECORD OF A SURFBIRD IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

    On 9 April 2012, while I was monitoring Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) nests on the cliffs near Halona Point along the southeastern coast of Oahu, Hawaii, a shorebird landed on a rocky ledge on the shoreline below me. The bird had a very distinctive tail pattern; the rectrices were bright white with broad black tips, which combined with other characters made it immediately obvious that it was a Surfbird (Aphriza virgata), a species not previously recorded in the Hawaiian Islands (Pyle and Pyle 2009). The bird was stocky, with short yellow legs and a short, thick (for a shorebird) bill that was orangish on the tomia and at the base of the mandible (Figure 1). The head, back, wings, and upper breast were mottled grayish brown, and the belly and lower breast were white with dark spots. It had a very prominent white wing stripe (Figure 2).

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    PHILLIP J. HOWARD, SARAH C. HARVEY, PAULA L. HARTZEL, PETE LEARY, TY J. BENALL (Author)

    COMMON NESTING HABITATS AND WEIGHTS AT FLEDGING OF WEDGE-TAILED SHEARWATERS ON TERN ISlAND, HAWAII

    The Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Puffinus pacificus) is a common seabird in the Hawaiian Islands, breeding from Kure Atoll in the northwest to offshore islets near Maui in the south (Richardson 1957, Harrison 1990, Whittow 1997, Spear and Ainley 1999, Pyle and Pyle 2009). The highest concentration of breeding Wedge-tailed Shearwaters is in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, where Pyle and Pyle (2009) estimated over 228,000 pairs. The largest colonies are on Laysan (150,000 pairs), Nihoa (35,000 pairs), and Lisianski (20,000 pairs) (Harrison 1990, USFWS 2005, Pyle and Pyle 2009). In the southeastern Hawaiian Islands, the population of the Wedge-tailed Shearwater has been estimated at roughly 67,000 pairs, with the largest colonies on O’ahu (30,550 pairs) and Ni’ihau (25,000 pairs) (VanderWerf et al. 2007, Pyle and Pyle 2009). The goals of our study were to estimate the number of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters fledging in 2010 on Tern Island, the main island in the atoll of French Frigate Shoals, in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, to identify common nesting habitats in relation to vegetation cover and soil type, and to investigate differences between natural and artificial nests in fledglings’ weight and date of fledging.

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    RONALD J. KIENHOLZ, ALEEN M. KIENHOLZ (Author)

    AN APPARENT LONG-DISTANCE FLIGHT BY A DUSKY GROUSE IN MONTANA

    Two closely related species (previously regarded as several subspecies of the Blue Grouse, see Zwickel and Bendell 2005) constitute the genus Dendragapus, the Dusky Grouse (D. obscurus) of inland mountains and the Sooty Grouse (D. fuliginosus) of coastal mountains. The ability of these birds to fly long distances is poorly known because observations of such behavior are at best serendipitous. In eastern Oregon, Anthony (1903) witnessed flights of both adult and immature Dusky Grouse from a mountain ridge to a nearby mountain slope and estimated the distance at “fully a mile and a half” (2.4 km). He noted that the flights were of “gradually descending” trajectory and seldom sustained enough “to carry the birds to the top” of the mountain to which they were flying even though the latter was 400 feet lower than the ridge. In coastal British Columbia, Zwickel and Bendell (2004, 2005) concluded that level flight in excess of approximately 2 km was unlikely for the Sooty Grouse because “few islands more than approximately 2 km from a source population are inhabited.” Furthermore, these authors described an instance “in which a hen that flew out over a lake came down in the water after approximately 150 m.

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    ROBERT A. MILLER, NEIL PAPROCKI, ELIZABETH H. URBAN (Author)

    MELANISTIC ADULT MALE NORTHERN HARRIER WINTERING IN IDAHO

    Melanism (dark coloration) is a condition resulting from a greater than normal expression of the eumelanin pigments in the plumage (Gill 1990). The dark coloration can be advantageous to raptors by increasing the feathers’ resistance to bacterial degradation (Goldstein et al. 2004). Conversely, abnormally dark pigmentation can reduce success in pairing by dissuading key species-identification cues (García 2003) and decrease lifetime reproductive success by increasing mortality (Krüger and Lindström 2001).

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    Richard L. Glinski (Author)

    IN MEMORIAM GALE MONSON, 1912–2012

     For many western ornithologists the most prominent event of 2012 was not the centennial celebrations of the statehood of Arizona and New Mexico. It was the passing of Gale Monson, who would have celebrated his centennial year on 1 August 2012.The patriarch of Arizona ornithology died peacefully on 19 February 2012 in Albuquerque with one of his daughters and his caregiver at his side.

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    LAUREN HARTER (Author)

    BOOK REVIEW: The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America

    The latest addition to the Peterson Field Guides series, The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America is written especially for children 8–12 years old. In many ways it is a simplified field guide, aiming to ease kids into birding without overwhelming them. The real success of this book, however, is in Thompson’s light-hearted writing style, which kids will find fun, engaging, and full of tidbits of information. The value of this book is not as much to help aspiring young birders become great at bird identification but to ignite a spark of interest in birds and bird watching.

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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 2011. The generosity of our members in sustaining WFO is an inspiration to us all

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    Ed Pandolfio (Author)

    WFO PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: STATE OF THE ORGANIZATION

    The beginning of my term seems an ideal time to report on the overall health of WFO and on our plans for the future.

    During the past year, WFO’s board of directors commissioned an independent review of our finances and also took a close look at how well we are positioned to meet our primary goal of promoting field ornithology throughout our region. As part of that process, we spent an entire day prior to the Petaluma conference reviewing the status of the organization and beginning work on long-term and short-term plans.

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    RON LeVALLEY, JEFF N. DAVIS (Author)

    FEATURED PHOTO - CAROTENISM IN THE HAIRY WOODPECKER

    On 3 January 2009, at Russian Gulch State Park in Mendocino County, California, LeValley encountered a female Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus) with yellow outer rectrices. He and others hypothesized that the bird had acquired the yellow adventitiously through staining. Yet on 1 November 2010, LeValley was surprised to find what appeared to be a different female Hairy Woodpecker with yellow outer tail feathers at Little River, approximately 6.5 km south of the previous sighting. This bird remained in the area for much of the winter and was photographed in November 2010 and January 2011 (upper photo on this issue’s inside back cover). On 25 December 2011, a male Hairy Woodpecker with yellow outer tail feathers was photographed at the same location.