Western Birds Journal

Volume 5, No. 3

Published July 1, 1974

Issue description

Volume 5, number 3 of Western Birds, published 1974

Articles

  1. Cover image V5(3)

    DAVID GAINES (Author)

    A NEW LOOK AT THE NESTING RIPARIAN AVIFAUNA OF THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA

    The riparian forests and gravel bars of the Sacramento Valley, California, are remnants of a vanishing natural community that has received little attention from field biologists. This type of habitat has been extensively cleared for fuel, agriculture, levee construction and urban development (Thompson 1961, Davis 1973). Except for Grinnell’s survey (Grinnell 1924; Grinnell, Linsdale and Dixon 1930), the nesting avifauna has not been studied. The objectives of my research were to census the nesting avifauna of the Sacramento Valley riparian zone and compare the present status of breeding birds with that given in Grinnell and Miller’s The Distribution of the Birds of California (1944).

  2. Cover image V5(3)

    RUSSELL GREENBERG, TODD KEELER-WOLF, VIRGINIA KEELER-WOLF (Author)

    WOOD WARBLER POPULATIONS IN THE YOLLA BOLLY MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA

    Long-term studies of bird populations in California mountains are conspicuously absent from the literature. While distribution of summer resident species is generally well known, population changes through the summer and fall need study. This is certainly the case in the Yolla Bolly Mountains of the interior north coast ranges of California. Hemphill (1952) presents a fairly complete account of species occurrence in the southern Yolla Bolly Mountains during the summer. A banding project carried out in the Yolla Bollys 15 June to 6 October 1973 afforded us the opportunity to observe seasonal changes in bird populations. This paper is a summary of data collected on a closely interrelated group of species, the wood warblers (Parulidae).

  3. Cover image V5(3)

    WAYNE HOFFMAN, WILLIAM P. ELLIOTT (Author)

    NOTES: OCCURRENCE OF INTERGRADE BRANT IN OREGON

    On 19 July 1973 two small geese of the Branta bernicla species complex were found feeding on Eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Yaquina Bay, Lincoln County, Oregon. Since the occurrence of Brant of any form is most unusual on the Pacific Coast in midsummer (Barnard 1973, Einarsen 1965) the birds were observed quite carefully.

  4. Cover image V5(3)

    PHILIP UNITT (Author)

    NOTES: PAINTED REDSTARTS ATTEMPT TO BREED IN CALIFORNIA

    On 6 July 1974 Carl Schroeder, Debbie Zache and I found a nest of Painted Redstarts (Myioborus [=Setophaga] pictus) in the Laguna Mountains (32° 51' 40" N, 116° 26' 10" W) of San Diego County, California. This is the first recorded breeding of this species in California. The nesting area was at an elevation of about 5640 feet, approximately one mile downstream from the Agua Dulce campground along Agua Dulce Creek.

  5. Cover image V5(3)

    TERRY MAPLE (Author)

    NOTES: DO CROWS USE AUTOMOBILES AS NUTCRACKERS?

    While driving through the University of California, Davis, campus one morning, I spotted a Common Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) hovering over the street ahead of me. The bird flew to the street and dropped a walnut. At the approach of several automobiles the crow flew up into the air. Four or five autos passed over the spot, while the crow circled some twenty-five feet above the street. After passing over the spot, I watched in my rearview mirror, noticing that the crow returned to the street (and, presumably, the walnut) after a final car had passed by. The walnut appeared to be intact, although I was by then a bit far-removed to tell if it had fragmented at the impact of the automobiles. I was, unfortunately, unable to return to the scene for a closer look.