Western Birds Journal

Volume 39, No. 3

Published July 1, 2008

Issue description

Volume 39, number 3 of Western Birds, published 2008

Articles

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    MATTHEW T. HEINDEL, KIMBALL L. GARRETT (Author)

    THE 32ND REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE: 2006 RECORDS

    The California Bird Records Committee reached decisions on 264 records involving 83 species evaluated during 2006, endorsing 225 of them. New to California were Ross’s Gull (Rhodostethia rosea) and the Taiga Flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla); the Little Shearwater (Puffinus assimilis) was removed from the state list. Adjusted for these changes, California’s bird list stands at 633 species, ten of which are non-native; three additional species recently accepted will be covered in the next report.

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    SARAH CONNORS (Author)

    SHOREBIRD USE OF MUTED TIDAL WETLANDS IN A CALIFORNIA ESTUARY

    At Elkhorn Slough, an estuary on Monterey Bay, California, the number of shorebirds using muted tidal wetlands at high and low tide differs significantly. At all seasons, small sandpipers are significantly more abundant in muted tidal wetlands at high tide. In contrast, numbers of the Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) and American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana) do not differ significantly by tide except in winter, when they are more abundant at high tide. Manipulation of water level by adjustment of tide-gate settings enhances the suitability of muted tidal wetlands for many species. These areas provide an additional habitat dimension within the slough, enabling shorebirds to feed and roost at high tide when fully tidal mudflats are unavailable.

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    LEN LINDSTRAND III (Author)

    PURPLE MARTIN DISTRIBUTION AND NESTING HABITAT AT SHASTA LAKE, CALIFORNIA

    The Purple Martin (Progne subis) is a local and generally uncommon to rare summer visitor in the western U.S. Once considered fairly common in California (Grinnell and Miller 1944), it has suffered population decline over much of its former breeding range (Remsen 1978, Airola and Williams 2008). It is currently designated as a species of special concern by the California Department of Fish and Game (Shuford and Gardali 2008). Most of the known California population nests in the northwestern portion of the state, but the species also nests at scattered locations throughout the state’s non-desert regions (Small 1994, Airola and Williams 2008). In the Central Valley of northern California, the Purple Martin is known to nest only at several urban locations around Sacramento (Airola and Grantham 2003, Airola and Kopp 2007). In interior northern California, the only recent known breeding locations are scattered in central Siskiyou and eastern Shasta counties, the latter including a regular population at Shasta Lake (Williams 1998, Airola and Williams 2008). The Shasta Lake population is large for the interior portion of California and has been monitored better than the other sites. Because of the Purple Martin’s wide distribution, low density, use of relatively inaccessible areas, and use of ephemeral, wildfire-created habitats (Airola and Williams 2008) its population trends are difficult to track. Therefore any information on local populations as an indication of the species’ overall trend is useful.

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    THEODORE N. BAILEY (Author)

    SAP FEEDING ON BIRCH TREES BY AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS

    The American Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis) is a beetle specialist that feeds primarily on phloem-boring insects that occur only in the inner bark and cambium of attacked trees; apparently it seldom feeds on sap from trees (Murphy and Lehnhausen 1998, Leonard 2001). In Quebec, Imbeau and Desrochers (2002) observed it to spend only 0.6–1.4% of its time feeding on sap from Black Spruce (Picea mariana) trees, and in northern Manitoba Villard (1994) found only one individual feeding on sap. Short (1974, 1982) reported that P. dorsalis presumably does not drill its own holes for sap but occasionally takes it from wells drilled by sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus spp.). Villard (1994) speculated that sap feeding is less well developed in the American Three-toed than it is in the European Three-toed Woodpecker (P. tridactylus) because the sap-feeding niche in North America is already taken by sapsuckers, a conclusion questioned by Imbeau and Desrochers (2002). I found no definitive published reports of P. dorsalis drilling and feeding from sap wells in birch trees (Betula spp.).

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

    FIRST RECORDS OF THE BROWN CREEPER BREEDING ALONG THE MIDDLE RIO GRANDE IN CENTRAL NEW MEXICO

    In New Mexico, the Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) typically breeds in montane coniferous forests ranging in elevation from 2100 to 3300 m (Ligon 1961, Hubbard 1978). Since 2003, however, we have also noted breeding in the riparian cottonwood forest (hereafter bosque) along the middle Rio Grande, in the south valley of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico. One prior report by another observer (see below) suggests more widespread breeding by the species along the river.

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    JAN HODDER (Author)

    BOOK REVIEW: Storm-Petrels of the Eastern Pacific Ocean: Species Assembly and Diversity along Marine Habitat Gradients

    The majority of information on storm-petrels comes from studies conducted on land, where these small nocturnal birds come to breed and are accessible to biologists. Few people have the fortune and insight to spend sufficient time on the open ocean studying marine birds to begin to understand the bigger picture of their distribution, abundance, and ecological significance. Larry Spear and David Ainley are among the few who have accomplished this feat. Their monograph on eastern Pacific storm-petrels reports findings from 23 cruises over 26 years covering over 110,000 km² of the eastern Pacific Ocean, stretching from the California Current south through the Humboldt Current and out to 170° W. It summarizes observations of 36,005 storm-petrels from over 9000 hours of observation and provides a comprehensive overview of 23 forms or subspecies of 13 species of this smallest, most pelagic, and widespread group of marine birds. As Spear and Ainley note, “Storm-petrels in the eastern Pacific have a diversity greater than that of any other seabird group in a comparable area of ocean.”

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    GEORGE A. JOBANEK (Author)

    BOOK REVIEW: John Kirk Townsend: Collector of Audubon's Western Birds and Mammals

    When the young Quaker naturalist John Kirk Townsend returned to Philadelphia from the west coast of North America, where he had lived for two years, he began writing an account of his adventures for his family and friends. Published in 1839, his Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains, to the Columbia River, and a Visit to the Sandwich Islands, Chili, &c., with a Scientific Appendix was charming, full of encounters with native peoples and historic figures, mountain men, grizzlies, and bison, all viewed through the eyes of a greenhorn in his mid-twenties. Townsend captured the wonder of western travel, its danger, and his own barely restrained excitement at the new lands and new creatures he was discovering almost every step of the way. In 2001, the magazine National Geographic Adventure named it one of the 100 greatest adventure books of all time.

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    TED FLOYD (Author)

    BOOK REVIEW: Birds of Western Colorado Plateau and Mesa Country

    There are a few tools that every field ornithologist needs—a serviceable pair of binoculars, for example, and an identification guide. Beginners are inclined toward poro prisms and a Peterson guide, whereas veteran field ornithologists tend toward high-end roof prisms and the Pyle guide. But the tools are basically the same.

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    ANGUS C. HULL, MICHAEL G. ARMER, BETHANY J. STURGEON, ALLEN M. FISH (Author)

    FEATURED PHOTO - FIRST DOCUMENTATION OF A EURASIAN KESTREL IN CALIFORNIA

    The Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) is among the most wide-ranging of raptors of the Old World, occurring as a breeder throughout Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia, including Japan (del Hoyo et al. 1994, Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001). As many as eleven subspecies have been described (del Hoyo et al. 1994), and the AOU (1998) categorized the species as casual or accidental in North America.

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    RARE BIRDS OF CALIFRONIA

     Edited by Robert A. Hamilton, Michael  A. Patten, and Richard A. Erickson: 600  pages, many photographs, original paintings and sketches, maps, and charts.  Originating from the California Bird  Records Committee, this book summa rizes and interprets all reports of rare  birds in California. A work of art as well  as a work of science, it offers value to  birders throughout North America. It  stands as a landmark in our understanding of bird migration, distribution, and  vagrancy