Volume 15, number 2 of Western Birds, published 1984
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus), formerly a "fairly common" breeding species in "willows of fairly old growth, often mixed with cottonwoods... on the broad flood-bottoms of larger streams" (Grinnell and Miller 1944), has become one of California's rarest birds. The paucity of recent records justifies concern for its survival in the state.
Few data are available on post-breeding behavior and migration dates for birds of many geographic areas, especially for mountainous regions like western Colorado, whose avifaunas are poorly known in general (Bailey and Niedrach 1965, Davis 1969). This paper presents information on the late-summer birds of a high-altitude forest in western Colorado, with particular attention to the foraging and flocking behavior of small foliage- and bark-gleaners.
The avifauna associated with Wyoming's juniper plant community has largely been ignored. The purpose of this paper is to communicate information regarding 10 species of birds virtually confined, during the breeding season, to the Utah Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) community in Wyoming.
The Hooded Warbler (Wilsonia citrina) is a rare visitor to the southern California mainland (38 records reported, mostly from the interior), primarily in spring (Garrett and Dunn 1981). To my knowledge, it has never been recorded on any of the Southern California Channel Islands, despite several recent surveys of the islands' avifauna (Hunt and Hunt 1974; Jones and Diamond 1976; Diamond and Jones 1980; Hunt et al. 1980), as well as my own incidental observations while conducting pinniped research at San Miguel and San Nicolas Islands since 1978.
This book is the fifth in a series of natural history volumes originating from the Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center near Palm Desert, California. On the one hand, it is a work of narrow geographic scope, set along a transect from the floor of the Coachella Valley (elevation 9 m) to the highest portions of the Santa Rosa Mountains (which crest at Toro Peak, 2657 m). On the other hand, this book should enjoy wide appeal among birdwatchers and ornithologists over a vastly larger area.
Those of us with more than just a little knowledge of North American birdlife will unhesitatingly identify this issue's quiz bird—at least generically—as a vireo. A small songbird with a uniformly deep, non-conical bill leaves no other choice except, perhaps, the Northern Beardless Tyrannulet (Camptostoma imberbe). A tyrannulet, however, would have a smaller, daintier bill than the bird shown here.
Let me add at this point (in an attempt to further confuse the issue) that although this is a black-and-white print, the color original reveals little more. In life, this bird was white below and gray above, with scarcely a trace of green or yellow.