Western Birds Journal

Volume 53, No. 3

Published July 1, 2022

Issue description

Volume 53, number 3 of Western Birds, published 2022

Articles

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    ANDREW J. McCORMICK (Author)

    THE TRICOLORED BLACKBIRD IN WASHINGTON STATE: FIRST ASSESSMENT OF STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION

     Breeding of the Tricolored Blackbird (Agelaius tricolor) in Washington State was first reported in 1998, but since then the species’ status and population trends have been poorly documented. I reviewed available data and found reliable reports of breeding at six locations, all in the Columbia Basin ecoregion, and additional reports of nonbreeding birds in 11 counties statewide. Breeding colonies were small, averaging 34 birds. All colonies were in emergent vegetation, and birds moved among them over the 24 years covered by this assessment. The relatively arid environment of the Columbia Basin, the limited extent of wetlands suitable for nesting, and the intensification of agriculture, implying a reduction in
    insect populations, likely inhibit the expansion of the Tricolored Blackbird’s range in Washington. A systematic survey of known and suitable breeding locations within the Columbia Basin ecoregion, more intensive monitoring of colonies during the breeding season, an assessment of foraging habitats, and a review of the Tricolored Blackbird in the Washington State Wildlife Action Plan for 2025 should be the next steps in assessing the status and trends of the species.

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    JONAH GULA (Author)

    HABITAT-PATCH OCCUPANCY OF WESTERN SCREECH-OWLS IN SUBURBAN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

     Many predators can adapt to human-altered habitats, but varying responses to human activity mean that the findings of studies of a species in one region may not apply even to related species at other locations. The Eastern Screech- owl (Megascops asio) has been extensively studied in suburban environments, but comparatively little research has investigated to what extent the closely related Western Screech-owl (M. kennicottii) persists in developed areas. I studied Western Screech-owl occupancy in the town ofalpine in the foothills of San Diego County, California, finding the species at the majority of sites sampled, more likely in larger wooded patches and in those adjacent to undeveloped chaparral. The distance to and
    size of nearby wooded patches did not statistically influence occupancy. This study confirmed that the Western Screech-owl can persist in suburban residential areas as does its eastern relative. Ensuring that patches of woodland remain larger than the minimum modeled threshold for the Western Screech-owl’s occupancy, 4.2 ha, will be important for its persistence in the suburban sprawl of alpine.

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    ERIC A. VANDERWERF (Author)

    AN INCA TERN IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: FIRST RECORD FOR HAWAII AND THE UNITED STATES

     An inca Tern (Larosterna inca) was observed and photographed at several locations in the Hawaiian islands from 10 March 2021 to 8 January 2022, constituting the northernmost and westernmost record for this species, which breeds on the Pacific coast of South America, and the first for the United States. Here i provide details about the appearance and inter-island movements of this individual, along with evidence indicating that only a single individual was involved in all sightings. The Hawaiian islands occurrence, along with recent documentation of the inca Tern in central America north to Guatemala, points to yet another South American seabird moving north with increasing frequency in the Pacific Ocean.

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    PETER PYLE, BLAINE H. CARNES (Author)

    MOLT STRATEGIES BY AGE AND SUBSPECIES IN THE WILLOW FLYCATCHER

     We clarify the molt strategies of the Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii) by subspecies through the examination of 455 museum specimens. Most and typically all juvenile primary coverts are retained during the preformative molt in fall and winter, allowing yearlings to be distinguished from older birds from their first spring through their second fall. In addition to replacing the body feathers and some to (usually) all secondary coverts and tertials, the preformative molt can include no other remiges or rectrices (46% of specimens), all remiges and rectrices (33%), or some remiges in an “eccentric” sequence (21%). During the prealternate molt, replacement of upper wing coverts and tertials is much less extensive than in
    the preformative molt, varying from replacement of no feathers in 27% of specimens to replacing more than half of the median and greater coverts and all three tertials in other specimens. Both the preformative and the first prealternate molts are significantly more extensive in eastern E. t. traillii than in the three western subspecies (brewsteri, adastus, and extimus). The definitive prealternate molt is also significantly more extensive than the first prealternate molt in the western subspecies but not in traillii. These differences between traillii and the other subspecies may result from longer migration distances, hence more solar exposure on an annual basis, and different molt-strategy dynamics between eastern and western North American passerines, perhaps relating to preferences for moister habitats. Further investigation is needed on the timing of molts on the winter grounds and the extent of body-feather replacement during the prealternate molt.

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    PAUL HENDRICKS, ADAM MITCHELL (Author)

    BREEDING STATUS AND FIRST NEST RECORD OF THE LESSER GOLDFINCH IN MONTANA

     the range of the lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) has expanded northward through the northern rocky Mountain states of Wyoming, idaho, and Montana since at least the early 1990s (stephens et al. 1990, stephens and sturts 1998, Faulkner 2010, Montana Bird distribution committee 2012, Marks et al. 2016), although this went largely unrecognized on a range-wide scale until recently (e.g., Watt and Willoughby 2014). initial colonization of Montana probably occurred both east of the continental divide through Wyoming and west of the divide through idaho. However, movement across the divide within Montana is also a possibility, since lesser Goldfinches were not reported in Montana west of the divide until 2011 even
    though they were present and breeding in southern idaho by 1988 (stephens et al. 1990, stephens and sturts 1998).

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    GERARDO MARRÓN, LUISA MARRÓN, ROBERTO CARMONA (Author)

    FIRST RECORD OF THE WHITE-FACED IBIS NESTING IN BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR

     The White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi) is a generalist water bird associated with freshwater wetlands, flooded grasslands, coastal marshes, and areas modified for agriculture and livestock (Ryder and Manry 2020). The species breeds colonially between April and July, building nests on emergent vegetation or low trees and shrubs over shallow water, or directly on the ground on small islands (Ryder and Manry 2020). The breeding range includes portions of central and western North America, and a large portion of South America from Brazil to Argentina (Ryder and Manry 2020). The White-faced Ibis is resident year-round in some areas, and winters from central California through southwestern Arizona, as well as coastal Texas and Louisiana, south to El Salvador, including most of Mexico except the Yucatan Peninsula (Dunn and Alderfer 2017, Ryder and Manry 2020).

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    SCOTT E. DIETRICH (Author)

    WILLOW FLYCATCHER NESTING WITHIN NARROWLEAF COTTONWOOD IN THE SIERRA NEVADA

     In the Sierra Nevada the Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii brewsteri) typically nests within wetlands in high-elevation meadows (Green et al. 2003), almost always in shrubby willows (Salix spp.) and alders (Alnus spp.) (Serena 1982, harris et al. 1987, Valentine 1987, Sanders and Flett 1989, Bombay et al. 2003) and rarely more than 3 m off the ground (Beedy and Pandolfino 2013). Occasionally, however, it nests in more complex multilayered riparian woodland comprising a shrub understory and an upper canopy featuring larger trees such as cottonwood and aspen (Populus spp.; Dietrich 2020), as elsewhere in the species’ range (Sogge et al. 2010).

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    DANIEL CASEY, PAUL HENDRICKS (Author)

    APPARENT PREDATION BY ROCK WREN OF COMMON SAGEBRUSH LIZARD

     Analyses of the stomach contents of wrens (Troglodytidae) rarely report vertebrates (Beal et al. 1916, Bent 1948, Poulin et al. 2001, lopes et al. 2005), and few published records exist of wrens capturing and consuming vertebrate prey. We report here on a rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) that was seen apparently preying upon a Common Sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus). The observation occurred on 11 June 2015 during the Western Field Ornithologists convention held in Billings, Montana, on a field trip Casey led to Bear Canyon. Bear Canyon is located in Carbon County on the south side of the Pryor Mountains in south-central Montana at the northern edge of the Wyoming Basin Ecoregion near the Montana/Wyoming border (Marks et al. 2016). This arid canyon is bounded by outcropped limestone and supports a dominant vegetation of utah Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma), limber Pine (Pinus flexilis), and Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata).

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    LISA D. WALKER-ROSEMAN, FLOYD E. HAYES (Author)

    OBJECT PLAY IN THE ROYAL TERN

     Play behavior has been documented in a variety of bird species, especially among the families Corvidae and Psittacidae (Ficken 1977, Ortega and Beckoff 1987, Diamond and Bond 2003, Burghardt 2005, Emery and Clayton 2015, Kaplan 2020). Play behaviors are often classified into three categories: locomotor play, object play, and social play. Object play, the manipulation of an object for no apparent survival function (e.g., foraging or reproduction), has been reported in at least nine species of terns (Sterninae): the Sooty (Onychoprion fuscatus; Feare 1975), Gull-billed (Gelochelidon nilotica; Sabne et al. 1997, Molina et al. 2020), Caspian (Hydroprogne caspia; King 1981, Cuthbert and Wires 2020), Inca (Larosterna inca; Ashmole and Tover 1968), Roseate (Sterna dougallii; Shealer and Kress 1994), Common (S. hirundo; Arnold et al. 2020), Arctic (S. paradisaea; Hatch et al. 2020), River (S. aurantia; Kasambe 2011), and Sandwich (Thalasseus sandvicensis; Hollom 1955, Shealer et al. 2020). In this note we report the first documented instance of object play in the Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus).

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    KEN PHENICIE, STEVE ZAMEK, EDWARD R. PANDOLFINO (Author)

    PEREGRINE FALCON STEALS PREY FROM WHITE-TAILED KITES

     Kleptoparasitism, one individual stealing a prey item from another, is common among and between many raptor species (Newton 2010). The White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) is an occasional victim of kleptoparasitism (Rigolosi and Hayes 2018) with published observations of prey theft by the Aplomado Falcon (Falco femoralis; Brown et al. 2003, Raimilla et al. 2015), Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius; Temeles 1990), Chimango Caracara (Milvago chimango; Baladrón and Pretelli 2013), a variety of hawks (Dunk and Cooper 1994), and the American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos; Dixon et al. 1957). Baladrón and Pretelli (2013) documented one case of a kite being kleptoparasitised by a Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus). Rigolosi and Hayes (2018) reported an apparently unsuccessful attempt at kleptoparasitism of a Whitetailed Kite by an immature Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus); however, there are no published reports of successful kleptoparasitism involving this species pair.

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    Jack E. Davis (Author)

    BOOK REVIEW: The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird

     This is a history book, a novel, a collection of short stories, a series of vignettes, an appreciation of nature, a reporting of detailed field and laboratory research, human-interest stories, and a narration in prose often verging on poetry. It’s an enjoyable read, often thrilling, often depressing, always believable. I think it must contain everything there is to know or say about America’s national bird, its history, its mythology, and its biology.