Western Birds Journal

Volume 14, No. 1

Published January 1, 1983

Issue description

Volume 14, number 1 of Western Birds, published 1983

Articles

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    JOHN S. LUTHER, GUY McCASKIE, JON DUNN (Author)

    FIFTH REPORT OF THE CALIFORNIA BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE

    This report contains recent decisions of the California Bird Records Committee (CBRC). It officially adds the following species to the state list of California: Greater Shearwater (Puffinus gravis), Cook’s Petrel (Pterodroma cookii), Stejneger’s Petrel (Pterodroma longirostris), Band-rumped (Harcourt’s) Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma castro), Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda), Mongolian Plover (Charadrius mongolus), Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis), Crested Auklet (Aethia cristatella), Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris), Sedge (Short-billed Marsh) Wren (Cistothorus platensis), Dusky Warbler (Phylloscopus fuscatus), and White-winged Crossbill (Loxia leucoptera). These bring the state list to 539 species.

    Jones et al. (West. Birds 12:57–82, 1981) updated the state list; this Records Committee report was prepared earlier and differs from their list in a few instances.

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    FRANK A. BALDRIDGE, LLOYD F. KIFF, SUSAN K. BALDRIDGE, ROBERT B. HANSEN (Author)

    HYBRIDIZATION OF A BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD IN CALIFORNIA

    A relatively large number of North American hybrid hummingbirds have been described (Banks and Johnson 1961, Short and Phillips 1966, Mayr and Short 1970), representing at least 12 hybrid combinations, mostly intergeneric (Wells et al. 1978). Nearly all known hybrids have been adult males, and the evidence for their presumed hybrid origin has been based primarily upon the external characters of specimens.

    In late December 1977 a female Blue-throated hummingbird (Lampornis clemenciae) was discovered visiting a feeder near Three Rivers, Tulare County, California. This bird, the first of the species recorded in California (Luther et al. 1979), subsequently nested twice in the vicinity. Because of the apparent absence of a male Blue-throated Hummingbird, as well as certain characteristics of the young, we believe that these nesting attempts involved hybridization. In the following account the nesting attempts and the resultant offspring are described, and the possible identity of the male parent is discussed. We are unaware of a previous report of a hummingbird hybridization discovered during the nesting stage.

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    KATHLEEN E. FRANZREB, BARBARA J. FRANZREB (Author)

    FORAGING ECOLOGY OF THE RED-FACED WARBLER DURING THE BREEDING SEASON

    The Red-faced Warbler (Cardellina rubrifrons) is primarily a Mexican species which breeds from central Arizona and southwestern New Mexico south through the mountains of northwestern Mexico. During the breeding season it inhabits montane forests; nests are constructed on the ground and are well concealed by vegetation. Although not shy, this species is relatively quiet and inconspicuous in spite of its striking coloration, and little is known about its ecology.

    In 1973 and 1974 we studied the Red-faced Warbler to analyze quantitatively its foraging behavior during the nesting season. Such information should add to our understanding of the ecology of this little-studied species.

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    JUDD HOWELL, DAVID LACLERGUE, SHARON PARIS, WILLIAM I. BOARMAN, ANTHONY R. DEGANGE, LAURENCE C. BINFORD (Author)

    FIRST NESTS OF HEERMANN’S GULL IN THE UNITED STATES

    The primary breeding colonies of Heermann’s Gull (Larus heermanni) are on islands in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Only two colonies are known from the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula. One was on Isla San Roque (27°09’N; Grinnell 1928), where Huey (1927) found 35 pairs beginning to lay on 20 April 1927. The second colony, previously the northwesternmost for the species, was discovered on Isla Benito del Centro of the San Benito Islands (28°20’N) on 25 May 1971, when Jehl (1976) found 25 adults and nine nests containing one to five eggs each. Later surveys disclosed 15 adults and two active nests with one small chick each on 21 June 1974 (Jehl 1976) and at least 30 adults, eight scrapes and eight nests containing eggs and/or small chicks on 9 June 1975 (Boswall 1978).

    In this paper we describe the first nesting attempts by Heermann’s Gull in the United States. The species nested at two locations in California: on Alcatraz Island in 1979, 1980 and 1981, and at Shell Beach in 1980. Brief accounts were published by Binford (1980) and by Laymon and Shuford (1980) for Alcatraz and by Sowls et al. (1980) for Shell Beach.

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    ROBERT PITMAN, MICHAEL NEWCOMER, JOHN BUTLER, JAMES COTTON, GARY FRIEDRICHSEN (Author)

    NOTES: A CRESTED AUKLET FROM BAJA CALIFORNIA

    On 7 July 1980, while conducting a marine mammal survey for National Marine Fisheries Service, we discovered a Crested Auklet (Aethia cristatella) 9 miles ESE of Cedros Island (27°59’N, 115°00’W), 300 miles south of the United States—Mexico border. In the flat calm water in the lee of Cedros we were able to study it for 10 minutes during midday from a distance of 75 m using mounted 25×150 mm spotting binoculars.

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    PETER H. BLOOM (Author)

    NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND BIOLOGY OF THE FLAMMULATED OWL IN CALIFORNIA

    Although the Flammulated Owl (Otus flammeolus) is thought to be considerably more common than once suspected (Marshall 1939; Winter 1974, 1979), new data are scarce. Winter (1974, 1979) has provided an excellent analysis of the species’ distribution and seasonal occurrence in California, but much remains to be learned about other aspects of its biology. This paper provides data on four previously unpublished distributional records, three nesting attempts in nest boxes, and further information on body weight and molt.

    Observations of Flammulated Owls during this study were largely incidental to data collection for other field surveys: the Point Reyes Bird Observatory’s Beached Bird Survey; and the American Kestrel Nest Box Program of the Susanville District of the Bureau of Land Management. However, the two observations of birds in the Warner Mountains were obtained by deliberately setting mist nets for the species in suitable habitat.

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    BRUCE G. ELLIOTT (Author)

    NOTES: NOCTURNAL MOONLIGHT CALLING BY ELEGANT TROGON IN ARIZONA

    On 29 June 1982 I heard extended post-dusk calling by an Elegant Trogon (Trogon elegans) in the South Fork portion of Cave Creek Canyon, Chiricahua Mountains, Cochise County, Arizona. There was a half-full, waxing moon and light intensity in the canyon due to both direct and cliff-side reflected light was sufficiently bright to see many details of the South Fork Creek riparian vegetation quite clearly. The bird commenced calling at 2112, approximately 45 minutes after all noticeable solar illumination had concluded. The bird called a series of the typical turkey-like “cory-cory-cory” notes at intervals of about 20 seconds for at least 17 minutes, and last call series noted occurring at 2129.

    During the calling period, the bird moved the length of a territory that I and accompanying observers had noted earlier that day. I heard no other trogon vocalize, and the only other conspicuous noises occurring locally during the same period were the calls of one or more Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis) from a distance high above on the slopes of this same canyon; the owls did not commence calling until several minutes after the trogon initiated its sequence of calls.

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    WALTER BOYCE, LEE ELLIOT (Author)

    NOTES: FIRST RECORD OF A SNOW BUNTING IN ARIZONA

    On 3 November 1981 we found a freshly dead female Snow Bunting, Plectrophenax nivalis, at the Tanner Ranch, 2 km southwest of Littlefield in Mohave County, Arizona. This unusually early southern occurrence constitutes the first specimen (University of Arizona 14222) reported in Arizona. The nearest previous sightings were 95 km to the northeast in Zion National Park, Utah, where two birds were seen in January 1979 (Kingery, Am. Birds 33:302, 1979) and 1980 (Kingery, Am. Birds 34:295, 1980).

    We found the bird in Bermuda Grass (Cynodon dactylon) pasture adjacent to a small pond in the Virgin River floodplain at an elevation of 600 m. The typical habitat surrounding the floodplain is Mohave Desert scrub dominated by Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata), White Bursage (Ambrosia dumosa), and Opuntia spp.

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    JOSEPH MORLAN (Author)

    IDENTIFICATION QUIZ

    The low-slung neck and protruding feet of this flying bird are characteristic of loons, grebes and whistling-ducks, but the thick, bulky neck and bill shape clearly identify this bird as a loon. Although experienced seabird watchers may have little difficulty identifying flying loons, a single photograph like this one may present problems even to experts.