Western Birds Journal

Volume 16, No. 2

Published April 1, 1985

Issue description

Volume 16, number 2 of Western Birds, published 1985

Articles

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    THOMAS A. GATZ, MARTIN D. JAKLE, RICHARD L. GLINSKI, GALE MONSON (Author)

    FIRST NESTING RECORDS AND CURRENT STATUS OF THE BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE IN ARIZONA

    On 5 August 1983 Gatz and Jakle observed two pairs of Black-shouldered Kites (Elanus caeruleus) nesting in a row of Fremont Cottonwoods (Populus fremontii) along the Santa Cruz Wash channel on abandoned farmland 11 km south of Casa Grande in Pinal County, Arizona. Although this record is the first documented nesting attempt, previous nesting success in Arizona is evidenced by a juvenil-plumaged kite photographed (Figure 1) in a pecan orchard in Pima County near Pinal Air Park on 19 June 1982 (Seymour and John Levy pers. comm.) and by three fledged kites being fed by two adults in the same orchard near Pinal Air Park on 25 July 1983. A third area of likely nesting is near Elfrida, Cochise County, where two adult and two calling juvenil-plumaged kites were observed from September to November 1983 and where two adults and four immatures were seen from August to October 1984 (Arnold Moorhouse pers. comm.). The Elfrida birds were observed hunting over irrigated alfalfa fields and perching in dead cottonwoods in an area about 3 km from a pecan orchard. This report documents the first observed nesting attempts and summarizes Arizona records of the species.

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    BRIAN SHARP (Author)

    AVIFAUNAL CHANGES IN CENTRAL OREGON SINCE 1899

    Loye Holmes Miller, attached as a young ornithologist to a primarily fossil-collecting expedition to the John Day Basin in central Oregon in 1899, collected and recorded the birds he encountered at three sites. Two of the sites — Bridge Creek, 16 km northwest of Mitchell, Wheeler Co., and Blue Basin, 19 km north-northwest of Dayville, Grant Co. — were described in sufficient detail to allow them to be relocated. This paper compares the results of bird surveys conducted in 1983 at those two locations with the information provided in Miller’s accounts, to determine what changes in the avifauna might have occurred since 1899.

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    FRED C. SCHAFFNER (Author)

    ROYAL TERN NESTING ATTEMPTS IN CALIFORNIA: ISOLATED OR SIGNIFICANT INCIDENTS?

    Only four nesting attempts are known for the Royal Tern (Sterna maxima) in California, all at the San Diego Bay salt evaporating ponds. This paper describes the two most recent nesting attempts in detail and discusses all four attempts in terms of coincidental events in California fish stocks of the close inshore area.

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    ROBERT L. PITMAN (Author)

    THE MARINE BIRDS OF ALIJOS ROCKS, MEXICO

    Alijos Rocks (24°57'N, 115°45'W) lie 185 nautical miles almost due west of Cabo San Lazaro, off southwestern Baja California, Mexico (Figures 1–5). Their jagged, volcanic spires consist of three main stacks and numerous smaller rocks. South Rock, the largest of the group, rises 34 m above the sea; North Rock is 22 m high and Middle Rock, the smallest, is approximately 18 m high. The total top surface area of the three main pinnacles is under ¼ acre (0.1 hectare).

    The only published accounts of biological surveys of Alijos Rocks come from Hanna (1926) and McLellan (1926), who spent 3 hours rowing among the rocks on 24 April 1925, and Murphy (1958) who visited the area on 9 November 1956. Since 1974 I have passed by these pinnacles five times recording bird and mammal observations while aboard research vessels. A list of survey dates and pertinent comments is given in Table 1. In addition, Bayard Brattstrom visited Alijos Rocks on 10 May and 15 November 1953, and David Au surveyed them on 7 December 1976 by helicopter from a passing research vessel.

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    GARY S. MILLER, S. KIM NELSON, WILL C. WRIGHT (Author)

    NOTES: TWO-YEAR OLD FEMALE SPOTTED OWL BREEDS SUCCESSFULLY

    To understand the population dynamics of a species it is necessary to know age at first breeding and frequency of breeding by age class (Caughley 1977). Despite intensive studies of the Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis) in Oregon, California and Washington during the last decade (Allen and Brewer 1985, Barrows 1981, Barrows and Barrows 1978, Forsman et al. 1984, Solis 1983), no one has been able to determine the age at which Spotted Owls become reproductively mature. In June 1984 we observed a 2-year-old female which bred successfully and, at the same time, a similar event was observed in California (Barrows 1985). This paper provides detailed documentation of successful nesting by a 2-year-old Spotted Owl in Oregon.

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    DOUGLAS B. INKLEY (Author)

    NOTES: FIRST RECORD OF THE YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER IN WYOMING

    On 25 May 1983 I made in Laramie, Albany County, the first reported observation in Wyoming of a Yellow-throated Warbler (Dendroica dominica). Laramie is in a grassland basin at 2194 m (7200 ft) elevation and is a treed residential area. Sightings of this bird (Figure 1) were frequent from 25 May 1983 through 27 May 1983.

    I obtained the following description with 7× binoculars: yellow throat and upper breast; white abdomen; black streaking over white on sides; black auricular; bottom of white eye stripe touching top of eye; white patches on either side of the neck just posterior to the auricular; gray back without spots; dark gray crown; and white wing bars. Additional notes from color 35mm slides include a straight black bill and pale pink legs and feet.

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    JOHN T. EMLEN, RUTH R. OGDEN (Author)

    NOTES: NESTING DOVES AND THRASHERS SHARE CLOSE QUARTERS

    A pair of Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura) and a pair of Curve-billed Thrashers (Toxostoma curvirostre) built their nests in the same 1.8 m Jumping Cholla (Opuntia fulgida) in a dry wash near River Rd., Tucson, Arizona, in May 1983. Unfortunately we have no observations of their behavioral interactions, but the doves were apparently there first and had two eggs in an advanced stage of incubation when the thrashers moved in, building up an old thrasher nest and depositing three eggs about 15 May just 0.5 m below the doves. Thus on 27 May when we found them, the doves' brood was about 8 days old and the thrashers were sitting on eggs. When we returned on 8 June both pairs were still in residence; the doves had fledged their brood and were now sitting on two new eggs while the thrashers downstairs were busily tending the young that had hatched during our absence.

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    ROBERT L. PITMAN, MICHAEL R. GRAYBILL (Author)

    NOTES: HORNED PUFFIN SIGHTINGS IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC

    On 3 July 1979, while conducting a survey of marine bird colonies of coastal Oregon for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we saw a single Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata) roosting on Island Rock, approximately 8 km south of Port Orford, Oregon. The bird (Figure 1) was an adult in summer plumage. It roosted on a rocky outcropping 40 m above the sea surface on the east side of the island, near the south end. During the next 2 hours, while we censused nesting birds on the island from a boat, it disappeared into a crevice for up to 30 minutes at a time. Twice while we watched, it flew from its roost and circled widely around the colony several times before returning to its original site. We climbed up and inspected the crevice but were unable to determine if it was being used for nesting. As Campbell et al. (1979) pointed out, the behaviors we observed are also the activities of scouting pre-breeders and we have not inferred that this was an actual breeding attempt. At the time of our sighting, Island Rock had a population of approximately 350 Tufted Puffins (F. cirrhata).

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    RICHARD WEBSTER (Author)

    REVIEWS: Checklist of the Birds of Texas

    Checklist of the Birds of Texas. 2nd edition. Texas Ornithological Society. 1984. 147 pp. Order from TOS, c/o Keith Arnold, Dept. Wildl. & Fish. Sci., Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843. $3.75 for members. $4.75 for others; please add 75¢ for mailing, and 19¢ or 23¢ sales tax for Texas residents.

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    RICHARD WEBSTER (Author)

    REVIEWS: Hawaii’s Birds

    Hawaii’s Birds, 3rd edition, revised. Shallenberger, Robert J., ed. 1984. Hawaii Audubon Society. 96 pp. Order from Hawaii Audubon Society, P.O. Box 22832, Honolulu, HI 96822; $4.95 plus 72¢ (surface mail) or $1.03 (air mail).

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    RICHARD WEBSTER (Author)

    REVIEWS: The Joy of Birding. A Guide to Better Birdwatching

    The Joy of Birding is drawn from Chuck Bernstein’s columns in Bird Watcher’s Digest. The 22 chapters represent a smorgasbord of birding experiences and lore, but in displaying such a variety the author has created a strain between the main title, “The Joy of Birding,” and the subtitle, “A Guide to Better Birdwatching.” A stronger emphasis on either the adventure or the teaching might have led to a more unified book.