Western Birds Journal

Volume 9, No. 3

Published July 1, 1978

Issue description

Volume 1, number 3 of Western Birds, published 1978

Articles

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    JEFFERY BOSWALL, MICHAEL BARRETT (Author)

    NOTES ON THE BREEDING BIRDS OF ISLA RAZA, BAJA CALIFORNIA

    The ornithological significance and conservation importance of Isla Raza (28°49'N, 112°59'W) rests on the nesting of three Larids endemic to northwestern Mexico: the yellow-footed race of the Western Gull, the Heermann’s Gull and the Elegant Tern. The Heermann’s Gull colony is one of only eight known colonies (Anderson et al. 1976) and is easily the largest, containing perhaps over 90% of the species’ nests (Orr 1970). The majority of the world’s Elegant Terns are said to nest on Raza. A fourth Larid, the Royal Tern, also nests on the island. An Alcid endemic to northwestern Mexico, Craveri’s Murrelet, may well still nest on Raza.

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    ARNOLD SMALL (Author)

    WESTERN BIRD PHOTOGRAPHERS

    Ken Gardiner of Menlo Park, California is a skilled photographer who has surely mastered his chosen subjects and his chosen medium. I have studied the results of many bird photographers (eastern, western and foreign) and have yet to find one whose mastery of birds in action represented in a black and white medium exceeds the work of Ken Gardiner.

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    KENNETH W. GARDINER (Author)

    BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY

    Photography has been a lifetime hobby and my interest has always been nature subjects. In recent years this interest has focused on birds, particularly birds in flight. In this fascinating endeavor I spend many hours stalking and photographing marsh and shore birds and birds of prey. My usual haunts are the South San Francisco Bay, particularly the area near the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Interpretive Center, and the coastal shore and beach areas of San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

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    RICHARD W. HOFFMAN, CLAIT E. BRAUN (Author)

    CHARACTERISTICS AND STATUS OF RUFFED GROUSE AND BLUE GROUSE IN COLORADO

    In recent years, interest in the presence or absence of Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) in Colorado has increased. This interest was heightened with the reported observation of a single Ruffed Grouse near Hayden, Routt County, in 1971 by P. Lehner (Martin et al. 1974). Subsequently the Colorado Field Ornithologists Official Records Committee accepted the 1971 sighting and a 1947 observation of a female with three young near Hermosa Park, La Plata County (Reddall 1976). Ornithologists have not been alone in their interest in this species, as hunters and conservation agency personnel have periodically discussed prospects for the introduction of Ruffed Grouse into Colorado. Presently one land management agency is justifying in part its program of Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) manipulation in Colorado on the basis that it will benefit Ruffed Grouse. In view of this interest we felt it was timely to clarify the known status of this species in Colorado. To fully understand the complexity of the situation it was also necessary to review the status of another forest dwelling Colorado tetraonid, the Blue Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus), and compare important characteristics of the two species.

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    JOHN L. TRAPP, RICHARD A. MACINTOSH (Author)

    NOTES: FIRST NORTH AMERICAN SPECIMEN OF THE SPOTBILL DUCK

    On 30 October 1977 Trapp, MacIntosh, and Malcolm E. Isleib flushed a large, dark-bodied, pale-headed, dabbling duck from the estuary of Kalsin Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska (57°34' N, 152°27' W). MacIntosh tentatively identified the bird as a Spotbill Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha) on 31 October and on 1 November it was collected, providing the first specimen and second record of this Asiatic duck for North America. The adult female weighed 1050 g, had heavy fat, and the ovary contained varied-sized follicles (largest 1.5 mm diameter). The specimen (UAM 3631), determined to be A. p. zonorhyncha on the basis of the faint moustachial stripe (Scott 1968, Daniel D. Gibson pers. comm.), has been deposited in the University of Alaska Museum. Previously, a Spotbill Duck identified as zonorhyncha remained at Adak Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska for nearly a year, 1970–71 (Byrd et al. 1974; photograph published, Gibson 1971).

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    VERNON C. BLEICH, BONNAR BLONG (Author)

    NOTES: A MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD IN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

    Perusal of the literature indicates a lack of records of the Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) in San Bernardino County, California. Phillips, Marshall and Monson (1964) noted the occurrence of frigatebirds (Fregata sp.) at Lake Havasu, Mohave County, Arizona. Although Lake Havasu borders San Bernardino County, Cardiff (1963) did not include any frigatebird in his review of the avifauna of the county. More recently, McCaskie (1976a) reported a Magnificent Frigatebird over Grand Terrace, located approximately on the Riverside-San Bernardino County line. Additional frigatebird sightings in southern California and in the vicinity of the Colorado River in Arizona and Nevada are discussed by McCaskie (1970), Lawson (1973, 1977) and Speich and Witzeman (1975).

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    RICHARD C. BANKS, ROBERT W. DICKERMAN (Author)

    NOTES: MEXICAN NESTING RECORDS FOR THE AMERICAN BITTERN

    The southern limit of the nesting range of the American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) is generally considered to be along the southern tier of states of the United States (American Ornithologists’ Union, Check-list of North American Birds, 5th ed., 1957; Palmer, Handbook of North American Birds, Vol. 1, Yale Univ. Press, 1962). Although the species is known to winter in suitable localities throughout Mexico, it has not been reported nesting in that country (Friedmann, Griscom and Moore, Pacific Coast Avifauna no. 29, 1950).

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    CHARLES J. HENNY, JOHN T. ANNEAR (Author)

    NOTES: A WHITE-TAILED KITE BREEDING RECORD FOR OREGON

    A pair of nesting White-tailed Kites (Elanus leucurus) was located on the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge 20 km south of Corvallis, Benton County, in the Willamette Valley in early March 1977. This is apparently the first confirmed nesting record for the species in Oregon (about 275 km north from California border), although there is considerable evidence that nesting occurred the previous year in the same vicinity. During an aerial waterfowl survey on 1 April 1977, an incubating bird was observed on the nest. Young were being fed on 11 April; however, when the nest was revisited on 9 May, three dead young (approximately 1 week old) and an addled egg remained. Heavy rains in mid-April may have caused the nesting attempt to fail.

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    JACK D. TYLER (Author)

    NOTES: ELEGANT QUAIL IN BARRANCA DEL COBRE, CHIHUAHUA

    At 1100 on 23 May 1977 Mary E. Bush and I observed two Elegant Quail (Lophortyx douglasii) near the village of Urique (27°12'N, 107°55'W) in southwestern Chihuahua, Mexico, 240 km SW of Chihuahua City. Urique lies along the edge of the Urique River on the floor of Barranca del Cobre in the Sierra Madre Occidental of northwest Mexico. Although the elevation at Urique is only 665 m (2200 ft.), many of the surrounding igneous massifs rise 2100–2300 m (6900–7600 ft.) above sea level. Chihuahuan Desert plants such as Honey Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), Hairbrush Cactus (Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum), prickly-pear cactus (Opuntia spp.) and Yucca sp. were conspicuous on the open arid slopes above the river where they grew alongside scrubby tropical deciduous forest species such as Boat-thorn Acacia (Acacia cymbisipina), Silk-cotton Tree (Bombax palmeri), Ipomoea sp., etc. Cottonwood (Populus sp.) and willow (Salix sp.) dominated the riparian woodlands.

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    DALE A. ZIMMERMAN (Author)

    NOTES: A PROBABLE NUTTING’S FLYCATCHER IN SOUTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO

    Early in the afternoon of 18 December 1976 Marian Zimmerman and I closely observed a Myiarchus flycatcher, which we believe was a Nutting’s Flycatcher (M. nuttingi), in the Gila River Valley, approximately 10 km downstream from Riverside, Grant County, New Mexico. Normally, no species of Myiarchus occurs in this area during late autumn or winter. The bird was small, with a conspicuously rufous tail and primaries, the latter showing as a prominent reddish streak on the closed wing. The bill was small for the genus and not especially broad. The chin and throat were so pale as to appear white; the breast was pale gray, contrasting with a rather bright yellow belly, the intensity of the color doubtless due in part to the bird’s very fresh plumage. Its inner remiges were widely edged with whitish, showing no signs of wear. Similarly, the rectrices were broadly white- or whitish-tipped.