Western Birds Journal

Volume 17, No. 1

Published January 1, 1986

Issue description

Volume 17, number 1 of Western Birds, published 1986

Articles

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    LAURENCE C. BINFORD (Author)

    CHECKLIST OF CALIFORNIA BIRDS - 1986

    This is the official California state checklist of birds as compiled by the Western Field Ornithologists’ California Bird Records Committee (hereafter CBRC; see names of members in Acknowledgments). Several developments have rendered the last state checklist (Jones et al. 1981) obsolete. The American Ornithologists' Union (hereafter AOU) has published its Sixth Edition of the Check-list of North American Birds (AOU 1983) and its Thirty-fifth Supplement (AOU 1985), which contain numerous taxonomic innovations that were not, and could not have been, anticipated by Jones et al. (1981).

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    CAMERON W. BARROWS (Author)

    HABITAT RELATIONSHIPS OF WINTER WRENS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

    The Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) has the most widespread distribution of any wren and is the only member of the Troglodytidae found in Asia, Europe, and northern Africa, as well as North America. In Europe, where it is known simply as the Wren, this bird has been well studied (Armstrong 1955). In North America, however, there has been little investigation of Winter Wren ecology.

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    PAUL W. COLLINS, CHARLES DROST, GARY M. FELLERS (Author)

    MIGRATORY STATUS OF FLAMMULATED OWLS IN CALIFORNIA, WITH RECENT RECORDS FROM THE CALIFORNIA CHANNEL ISLANDS

    The Flammulated Owl (Otus flammeolus) is a widespread migratory species which breeds in mountains west of the Great Plains from southern British Columbia (Godfrey 1966; Cannings 1982) south to Veracruz, Mexico (AOU 1983). A number of recent papers provide a review of the distribution, habitat affinities, and seasonal occurrences of Flammulated Owls in California (Johnson and Russell 1962; Winter 1974, 1979; Marcot and Hill 1980; Bloom 1983); however, there is still much to be learned about the migratory habits of this species.

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    DENNIS R. PAULSON (Author)

    IDENTIFICATION OF JUVENILE TATTLERS, AND A GRAY-TAILED TATTLER RECORD FROM WASHINGTON

    On 13 October 1975, Robert M. and Patricia Evans observed a juvenile tattler at Leadbetter Point, Pacific County, Washington, that they thought was a Gray-tailed Tattler (Heteroscelus brevipes). A description was written, and six photographs of the bird were taken. As juveniles of this species and of the Wandering Tattler (H. incanus) were thought to be indistinguishable at that time, the record was tabled.

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    PAUL D. HAEMIGU (Author)

    NESTING OF THE PHAINOPEPLA ON SANTA CRUZ ISLAND, CALIFORNIA

    The Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens) is reported to breed on only one island off the coast of southern California: Santa Catalina (Diamond and Jones 1980). Recently, however, I discovered Phainopeplas nesting on Santa Cruz Island, over 100 km away.

    This discovery shows that the insular breeding distribution of this erratic species is more extensive than previously thought.

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    ROBERT R. COHEN (Author)

    FEMALE TREE SWALLOW NESTS SUCCESSFULLY FOLLOWING LOSS OF EYE

    In early July 1983, a pair of Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) began a late nesting in one of my nest boxes about 6.7 km south of Rollinsville, Gilpin County, Colorado. The box contained four newly laid eggs on 10 July.

    The female did not have a band, and when I captured her for banding on 16 July, I discovered that both her right eye and eyelid had recently been torn open, and her crown had been stripped of feathers along a narrow line extending from the right orbital area across to the other side of the head. The wound to the eye was still open and exuding fluid. Examination of her plumage coloration indicated that she was at least two years old (Cohen, J. Colo.-Wyo. Acad. Sci. 12:44–45, 1980; Hussell, J. Field Ornithol. 54:313–318, 1983).

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    RONALD E. COLE, ANDREW ENGILIS (Author)

    FIRST RECORD OF A RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD IN CALIFORNIA

    On 15 May 1975, Ron Cole collected an adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) at Sagehen Creek Field Station, 11 km north of Truckee, Nevada County, California (39°25′N, 120°15′W). The bird was freeze-dried as a study specimen (WFB-972, Museum of Wildlife & Fisheries Biology, University of California, Davis).

    Because Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are not included in recent comprehensive publications on the occurrence of California birds (McCaskie et al. 1979; Garrett and Dunn 1981; Jones et al. 1981), or reported in the most recent reports of the California Bird Records Committee (Luther et al. 1983; Binford 1983, 1985), we conclude that this specimen represents the first record for the species in California.

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    PHILIP UNITT (Author)

    ANOTHER HYBRID DOWNY x NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER FROM SAN DIEGO COUNTY

    Short (1971) reported three hybrid Downy [Picoides (= Dendrocopos) pubescens] × Nuttall’s (P. nuttallii) Woodpeckers—one collected at "San Francisco," California, in the 19th century, and two along the San Diego River near Lakeside and Santee, San Diego County, California, in September and October 1949. He suggested that the two species are close relatives that hybridize where they are sympatric, but that one species’ population may be sparse enough that individuals have difficulty finding conspecific mates.

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    TERENCE R. WAHL (Author)

    NOTES ON THE FEEDING BEHAVIOR OF BULLER'S SHEARWATER

    Buller's Shearwater (Puffinus bulleri) breeds only on Poor Knights Island in northern New Zealand (Jenkins 1974) and migrates north across the tropics to spend its non-breeding season (the boreal summer) in the subarctic Pacific Ocean (Wahl 1985). It is one of the least-known Pacific shearwaters, perhaps because of its restricted breeding range and small population size.

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    LARRY L. NORRIS (Author)

    NESTING OF PLUMBEOUS SOLITARY VIREO IN THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA

    On 26 June 1983, a nest of the Plumbeous Solitary Vireo (Vireo solitarius plumbeus) was discovered at an elevation of 1810 m on Chimney Creek below Chimney Meadow, Kern Plateau, Tulare County, California. This observation may be the first record of this Rocky Mountain/Great Basin subspecies nesting on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada. Ned K. Johnson collected specimens in breeding condition on 23 May 1973 about 6 km northwest of Chimney Peak at an elevation of 2315 m (Johnson and Garrett 1974); no nest was found. Johnson’s specimen records are only 8 km northwest of the location described in this report.