Western Birds Journal

Volume 8, No. 1

Published January 1, 1977

Issue description

Volume 8, number 1 of Western Birds, published 1977

Articles

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    ROBERT GILL, JR. (Author)

    BREEDING AVIFAUNA OF THE SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO BAY ESTUARY

    San Francisco Bay represents one of the largest estuarine areas on the Pacific Coast of North America. Its open waters, tidal flats, tidal marshes and solar evaporation ponds provide critical foraging, resting and breeding habitat for migratory and resident birds. The avifauna of San Francisco Bay has received considerable attention; however, little of it has been directed toward assessing the overall importance of the Bay as a nesting area. Works by Grinnell and Wythe (1927), Grinnell and Miller (1944) and Sibley (1952) are the only comprehensive studies of San Francisco Bay avifauna. These studies, while major contributions, are broad in scope as they relate to the breeding avifauna of the Bay’s estuarine areas. Several studies by Johnston (1955, 1956a, b), Marshall (1948a, b), DeGroot (1927, 1931) and Zucca (1954) have concentrated on the breeding biology of individual species; however, much of the marsh reclamation and Bay fill has occurred since. The present breeding status of many resident and migratory birds is poorly known for San Francisco Bay. Included among these are three rare or endangered forms: California Black Rail, California Clapper Rail and California Least Tern. In addition, some species now found in the area represent recent breeding range extensions. This study, undertaken from March to September 1971 and including a few more recent data, presents a quantitative assessment of the present breeding bird populations in the South San Francisco Bay area.

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    TIM MANOLIS (Author)

    FORAGING RELATIONSHIPS OF MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES AND PYGMY NUTHATCHES

    The Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea) and Mountain Chickadee (Parus gambeli) are two of the most abundant resident birds in yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa, P. jeffreyi) forests of western North America. Although nuthatches and chickadees usually forage in different ways, pygmaea has been characterized as “remarkably titlike in many of its foraging actions” (Norris 1958). In yellow pine woods, these two birds occupy what Sturman (1968) has called the “titmouse niche,” which might be more appropriately referred to as the titmouse “guild” (sensu Root 1967). This guild has been intensively studied in many parts of the northern hemisphere, primarily because its members are common, conspicuous and potentially important insect predators in temperate zone woodlands (Sturman 1968). In this paper, I focus on resource use patterns in relation to environmental structure, seasonal changes in resource distribution and interspecific flocking of the Pygmy Nuthatch and Mountain Chickadee.

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    ELIZABETH M. SWEARINGEN (Author)

    GROUP SIZE, SEX RATIO, REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS AND TERRITORY SIZE IN ACORN WOODPECKERS

    Published information regarding group size and composition, territories and reproductive success of the Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus), a group-living bird, is limited. Scattered data concerning these characteristics have been found in a few references (Ritter 1938, Bent 1939, Skutch 1969). To collect more specific information about these aspects of Acorn Woodpecker ecology, I observed nine groups of these birds on the Stanford University campus, Stanford, California from 1973 through 1975.

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    DANIEL D. GIBSON (Author)

    NOTES: FIRST NORTH AMERICAN NEST AND EGGS OF THE RUFF

    The nest of a Ruff (Philomachus pugnax), containing four eggs, was discovered at Point Lay (69°44′N 163°00′W), on Alaska’s arctic coastal plain, on 21 June 1976. It was a completely canopied cup at the edge of a dry hummock, 30 cm above a very wet, natural drainage. It was placed deep in a clump of sedge and was completely concealed from above and from 300° of the compass at a height of 30 cm above nest level. The four eggs were olive with dark brown splotches, most heavily marked about the large ends, and measured 45.4 x 30.5 mm, 43.5 x 30 mm, 44 x 30.3 mm, and 42.2 x 31 mm.

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    JON DUNN, PHILIP UNITT (Author)

    NOTES: A LAYSAN ALBATROSS IN INTERIOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

    On 5 May 1976 while driving north on California State Highway 62, 9 km north of Interstate 10 at the intersection of Indian Avenue, we observed a Laysan Albatross (Diomedea immutabilis) flying over the desert. This locality is in Riverside County at the south base of Morongo Pass, Little San Bernardino Mountains, and is just east of San Gorgonio Pass between the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains. The bird was flying west-northwestward, parallel to the mountains, about 30 m above the ground. Very strong winds, perhaps 80 km per hour, were blowing from the west through the area at this time.

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    WILLIAM C. SHUSTER (Author)

    NOTES: NORTHERN GOSHAWK NESTING IN SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO

    There have been few verified records of the Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) nesting in New Mexico, with almost all of the nests being limited to the northern San Juan and Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Hubbard, Check-list of the birds of New Mexico, New Mexico Ornithol. Soc. Publ. No. 3, 1970:20–21). For the rest of New Mexico, only two nests have been reported: one near Silver City (Johnson and Harris, Condor 69:209, 1967) and the other in the San Mateo Range (Ligon, New Mexico birds and where to find them, New Mexico Dept. of Game and Fish, Santa Fe, 1961:60–61). Ligon also reported several sightings in the Sacramento Mountains, though no nests have ever been reported.