Western Birds Journal

Volume 13, No. 1-4

Published January 1, 1981

Issue description

Volume 13, number 1-4 of Western Birds, published 1982

Articles

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    GERALD V. TANGREN (Author)

    FEEDING BEHAVIOR OF CROWS AND GULLS ON A PUGET SOUND BEACH

    The shoreline bird community of the Pacific Northwest differs from many others in the world because an abundant member is not a waterbird but a crow, the Northwestern Crow (Corvus caurinus). Crows are known opportunistic feeders, as are gulls, and many crows throughout the world do feed at least occasionally along marine shores (Goodwin 1976). Consequently, the Northwestern Crow should be adapted to occupy a role as a member of the opportunistic beach feeding guild limited often to gulls. A guild is “a group of species that exploit the same class of environmental resources in a similar way” (Root 1967). Three gulls commonly feed in the intertidal areas of Puget Sound: Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens), Mew Gull (L. canus), and Bonaparte’s Gull (L. philadelphia). To compare the role of the crow with the roles of the gulls and to see how the members of this particular guild subdivide the available resources, I compared the feeding behavior of crows and gulls along a Puget Sound beach.

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    NARCA A. MOORE-CRAIG (Author)

    WESTERN BIRD PHOTOGRAPHERS : A PHOTO ESSAY BY FRANS LANTING

    Often as I glance through a new issue of Geo or Audubon or National Wildlife, a single photo will arrest my attention: Frans Lanting must have taken this one. And usually he did.

    Frans’ photos are distinctive. Often moody and dramatic, they capture the subtleties of light and flashing wings. Frans will lie on a mudflat, drenched by the advancing tide, in order to photograph Willets or Marbled Godwits from their own height and perspective. He has a high replacement rate for camera equipment, but the results are stunning.

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    CHARLES T. COLLINS, ERIC V. JOHNSON (Author)

    FURTHER RECORDS OF WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS UTILIZING MAN-MADE STRUCTURES

    The White-throated Swift, Aeronautes saxatalis, occurs widely in western North America utilizing narrow crevices in rock cliffs, from sea level to 13,000 feet, for both nesting and roosting sites (Bent 1940:311). These swifts have on several occasions been noted using man-made structures for these activities (Bailey 1907, Skinner 1933, Pitelka 1944, Yocom 1966, DeSante and Perrone 1968). We present here additional observations of these swifts utilizing man-made structures in southern California.

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    J.V. REMSEN, JR., KIMBALL GARRETT, RICHARD A. ERICKSON (Author)

    VOCAL COPYING IN LAWRENCE’S AND LESSER GOLDFINCHES

    With perhaps the exception of the Northern Mockingbird, no bird in the western United States copies the vocalizations of such a wide variety of bird species with such proficiency as the Lawrence’s Goldfinch. Although this vocal “mimicry” was long ago described by Dawson (1923), subsequent workers have apparently failed to notice this striking feature of Lawrence’s Goldfinch vocalizations. Linsdale (1968) cited numerous references concerning descriptions of the song, none of which mentioned imitation. Coutlee (1971) studied in detail the vocalizations of this species, yet did not realize that the elaborate song is composed primarily of notes copied from other birds’ vocalizations. Concerning the vocalizations of this species, Lesser Goldfinch, and American Goldfinch, Coutlee (1971:561) stated “these…are probably among the longest and most varied of passerine songs (excluding, of course, birds which mimic other songs).” Lawrence’s Goldfinch was not included in Dobkin’s (1979) extensive list of birds known to copy other species.

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    JANE P. CHURCH (Author)

    NOTES SOUTHERNMOST NESTING RECORD FOR THE MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD

    In mid-March 1981 33 bluebird boxes were erected 3 to 5 km south of Sonoita, Santa Cruz Co., Arizona, in oak-juniper grassland habitat at approximately 1540 m. On 11 May I found four just-hatched Mountain Bluebirds (Sialia currucoides) and one egg. Both parents were carefully observed at close range, appeared in excellent physical condition, and showed no signs of hybridization with either Eastern (S. sialis) or Western (S. mexicana) bluebirds; both species occur in the area, the Eastern commonly nearby and the Western in lesser numbers primarily in the Santa Rita Mountains, about 20 km west, and the Huachuca Mountains, about 25 km east. On 26 May I returned with Max C. Thompson who confirmed the identification and assisted in banding five well-feathered young which immediately left the box and hopped and fluttered toward a nearby tree. We put them back, apparently successfully, as none was seen to exit and both adults brought food for the next half hour. Neither the young nor the parents were seen again but no specific search was made for them. Eastern Bluebirds occupied the box in June and produced three young in July. Gale Monson (in litt.) confirmed this as the southernmost nesting record of the Mountain Bluebird, whose nearest known nests in Arizona are approximately 240 km to the north. It winters regularly in the Sonoita area in small flocks.

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    DANIEL M. TAYLOR (Author)

    NOTES: PALM WARBLER OBSERVATIONS IN IDAHO

    On the morning of 20 September 1981 Rolf Koford and I saw a Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum) in the tiny desert town of Atomic City, Bingham County, southeast Idaho. It was first discovered in a yard, feeding on the ground and in some small bushes. We watched the bird for 2 minutes through binoculars at a distance of about 15 m, before it flew off with a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers (Dendroica coronata). Later the same morning we relocated a Palm Warbler, very likely the same bird, in another yard where it was also seen by Mark Reynolds.

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    JEANNE A. CONRY, BRUCE E. WEBB (Author)

    NOTES: AN EXTANT SPECIMEN OF ARCTIC TERN FROM COLORADO

    During a recent examination of tern specimens at the University of Colorado Museum, Boulder, Bruce Webb and Peter Moulton found that CU specimen 8108, labelled Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), was an immature Arctic Tern (S. paradisaea). It was one of two terns collected from a flock of “a dozen or more” feeding at a small lake near Windsor, Weld County, Colorado, on 16 September 1912 by Osterhout (1913).

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    LARRY L. NORRIS, RANDY MORGENSON (Author)

    NOTES: NESTING OF WATER PIPITS IN SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS

    Within recent years, several observations of the Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta), adults and young, have been made in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks; most of these observations occurred in the Upper Kern Basin.

    Prior to 1975, Water Pipits were not known to nest in California (Am. Birds 29:1028, 1975). On 1 August 1975, a Water Pipit nest was discovered at 3200 m in the central Sierra near Mount Conness (Gaines, Birds of the Yosemite Sierra, 1977:101). Subsequent nesting has been documented in the area.

    On 25 July 1975, Morgenson, a backcountry ranger, observed an adult Water Pipit feeding two young at Lower Hitchcock Lake, 3 km southwest of Mount Whitney at an elevation of 3555 m. Morgenson stated on the field observation form that the immature pipits were “obviously born . . . in the high Sierra—evidence that these pipits nest here.”

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    STEVEN M. SPEICH (Author)

    NOTES: NOCTURNAL FORAGING OF THE ROCK WREN UNDER ARTIFICIAL ILLUMINATION

    Shortly after midnight on the morning of 8 August 1980 at the Sunset Roadside Rest Area along Interstate Highway 17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff, Arizona (in Yavapai County), I observed a Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) feeding in an artificially lighted area. The wren was moving about on the ground near a building and was relatively tame, allowing me to stand about 20 feet away as it captured a moth fluttering on the ground. Several dead moths on the ground had apparently been attracted to the light on an outside building wall. The Rock Wren grabbed the live moth with its bill, shook it and beat it on the ground a few times and then swallowed it.

    While I watched the bird for a few minutes it captured and ate about six live moths in this manner. In two cases the bird flew to a nearby low retaining wall where it beat the moths before swallowing them. I observed this feeding activity until the bird was scared away by the passage of another person.

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    Terence Wahl (Author)

    PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

    Greetings,

    The seventh annual meeting of Western Field Ornithologists in San Diego, 9–12 September 1982, was very informative, enjoyable and productive. Credit and thanks to Elizabeth Copper and Sarah Brooks and all those on the local committee, to Dr. Richard Phillips and the Environmental Studies Program at USD, and to San Diego Field Ornithologists. Many other people, from masters of ceremonies, to field trip leaders and post-banquet speaker Ken Fink who dazzled us with outstanding slides of Alaskan wildlife, made the meeting a real success. About 140 persons from over the U.S. and Canada attended.

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    Bruce Webb (Author)

    IDENTIFICATION QUIZ

    What important clues do we have to identify this—or any other—raptor to species? The three most important characteristics to note on a flying raptor are silhouette, flight mannerisms, and plumage pattern. Size is relative and not useful in identifying many birds, including the one in this photograph.