Volume 1, number 1 of Western Birds, published 1970
This, the first issue of California Birds, marks the inauguration of a publication which hopefully will earn a place among the major ornithological journals. It will have, however, a rather different approach than most of those journals in that it will be devoted almost exclusively to field ornithology.
Twenty-five years have elapsed since Grinnell and Miller published The Distribution of the Birds of California, the only comprehensive list of the birds of the state. In that time additional species have been recorded in the state and much has been learned about the status and distribution of others.
The Common Tern Sterna hirundo and the Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea present a very difficult problem of identification. Observers in California do not have at hand adequate information on the subject. We asked Mr. Vande Weghe for permission to publish in this journal a translation of the part of his paper “La Sterne pierregarin Sterna hirundo et la Sterne arctique Sterna paradisaea. Identification et Passage en Belgique” (Aves 3: 1–5, 1966) that pertains to field identification (the rest of the paper treats the status in Belgium).*
At 08:00, 4 June 1968 I mist netted a Kentucky Warbler (Oporornis formosus) in my yard on Point Loma, San Diego County, California. The bird was seen in the hand by others including V. P. Coughran, A. M. Craig, C. R. Lyons and R. G. McCaskie. It was then banded, photographed (color photos deposited in the San Diego Natural History Museum), and released. At 15:00 this bird was netted again by V. P. Coughran ¼ mile to the west of our nets.
On an organized boat trip to look for pelagic birds off Monterey, Monterey County, California, on 9 September 1962 I saw a strange sea bird that I later identified as a Cape Petrel (Daption capensis). This bird was seen by some of the other people on the boat including Robert O. Paxton and Richard Stallcup, who also agreed upon the subsequent identification.