Western Birds Journal

Volume 5, No. 2

Published April 1, 1974

Issue description

Volume 5, number 2 of Western Birds, published 1974

Articles

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    JON WINTER (Author)

    THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE FLAMMULATED OWL IN CALIFORNIA

    Although the Flammulated Owl (Otus flammeolus) is a wide-spread temperate and neo-tropical species, its basic biology is obscurely known. The literature on this species is scattered and somewhat fragmented. Little is available on the distribution and relative abundance of this owl throughout most of its range. Current knowledge of this owl is largely due to the work reported by Jacot (1931), Johnson (1962), Marshall (1939, 1957, 1967), A. Miller (1947), L. Miller (1936), Phillips (1942), Phillips, Marshall and Monson (1964) and Ross (1969).

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    NED K. JOHNSON, KIMBALL L. GARRETT (Author)

    INTERIOR BIRD SPECIES EXPAND BREEDING RANGES INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

    Distributional records of birds, scattered in space and time, reach their full potential when fitted together to form a previously unseen pattern. This fact underscores the value of accumulated details of distribution even though single records can be considered trivial when studied alone. Rarely, sufficient information on breeding occurrence of birds in one area is available for two different periods of time. When this happens, some comparisons of interest to general ecologists become possible. For example, the response of the avifauna to habitat change may be studied (Emlen 1974). Or, turnover (versus stability) of the breeding bird species in relation to time may be investigated, as has been attempted with varying degrees of success for certain island avifaunas (Lynch and Johnson 1974).

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    WILLIAM H. BEHLE, MICHAEL L. PERRY (Author)

    NOTES: A RECORD OF THE BAY-BREASTED WARBLER FROM UTAH

    A new species to be added to the list of birds known to occur in Utah is the Bay-breasted Warbler (Dendroica castanea). Two warblers were seen by the authors very late in the afternoon of 25 May 1974 foraging in a mixed growth of cottonwoods and squawbush along the floodplains of the White River at an elevation of 5200 feet about five miles east of Bonanza, Uintah County, northeastern Utah. Realizing that they were different, but not knowing for certain what kind of warbler was represented, the junior author collected one. It proved to be a fat male with testes measuring 6 x 4 mm. It is now number 22249, University of Utah collection. The identity of the second warbler could not be ascertained.

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    TOM SCHULENBERG, STEVE SUMMERS (Author)

    NOTES: A BLUE-WINGED X GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER IN CALIFORNIA

    On 1 October 1973 we discovered a Blue-winged x Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora pinus x V. chrysoptera) in a willow (Salix sp.) patch at the old Eureka Airport, 0.25 mile south of Fairhaven, Humboldt Co., California. We studied the bird from 09:15 to 09:30 and then left for Arcata to contact other local birders. At approximately 10:30 we returned to the willow patch with Bob Behrstock, Dick Erickson, Gary Friedrichsen, Stan Harris, Ron LeValley, Linda Schliesman, Don Schmoldt and Paul Springer. The bird was easily relocated and seen well by everyone present.

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    P. D. SKAAR (Author)

    NOTES: FIRST LEAST TERN IN MONTANA

    About noon on 20 July 1974 I saw an immature Least Tern (Sterna albifrons) at the northeastern corner of the Cottonwood Reservoir along U. S. Highway 89 about four miles north of Wilsall, Park County, Montana. I observed the bird in bright sunlight through a 20X scope for about 20 minutes, often as close as 50 feet. The length and wing-span were no more than twice those of two brown-backed swallows (probably Rough-winged Swallows, Stelgidopteryx ruficollis) that twice harassed the tern closely.