Volume 22, No. 4

SPENCER G. SEALY, HARRY R. CARTER, W. DAVID SHUFORD, KEVIN D. POWERS, CHARLES A. CHASE III (Author)

LONG-DISTANCE VAGRANCY OF THE ASIATIC MARBLED MURRELET IN NORTH AMERICA, 1979–1989

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Long-distance vagrancy is common in seabirds, particularly among the petrels of the order Procellariiformes (Bourne 1967). Records of such vagrancy in the Alcidae also are numerous and have involved many species (e.g., Bent 1919, Grinnell 1938, Porsild 1943, Salomonsen 1944, Munyer 1965, Nero 1968, Sealy et al. 1971, Roberson 1980, Pitman et al. 1983). The nominate subspecies of the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus marmoratus) regularly occurs inland up to 75 km from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of North America (Carter and Sealy 1986), but these occurrences represent normal use of its inland nesting areas. Long-distance vagrancy in this species was not detected until 1979, but, over the next 10 years, 10 specimens of the Asiatic subspecies (B. m. perdix) were taken and three other Marbled Murrelets were observed at widespread localities across North America. Four specimen records have been published (Jehl and Jehl 1981, Mumford 1982, Sealy et al. 1982, Hoffman and Woolfenden 1988). In this paper, we document six other inland occurrences of B. m. perdix and examine all records to attempt to explain the possible causes of Asian birds in North America.

WESTERN BIRDS, INDEX, VOLUME 22, 1991

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Compiled by Mildred Comar

BERNADETTE A. RAMER, GARY W. PAGE, MARY M. YOKLAVICH (Author)

SEASONAL ABUNDANCE, HABITAT USE, AND DIET OF SHOREBIRDS IN ELKHORN SLOUGH, CALIFORNIA

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Large numbers of migrant and resident shorebirds feed and roost along the open coast, bays, sloughs, and marshes of California. However, more than 70% of coastal wetlands in California have been degraded by diking, filling, pollution, and other human activities (Speth 1979). Elkhorn Slough is one of the largest remaining salt marshes in California available to migratory shorebirds using the Pacific Flyway. Identification and conservation of critical habitats are required for an understanding of shorebird ecology and effective management of our resources (Senner and Howe 1984).

TONNA HARRIS-HALLER, STANLEY W. HARRIS (Author)

EXPERIMENTS WITH ALLEN’S AND ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRDS AT SUGAR WATER FEEDERS IN SPRING

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Because most ornithophilous flowers in North America are red (Pickens, 1930, 1941, Pickens and Garrison 1931, Grant 1966, Grant and Grant 1968), a general belief has arisen that hummingbirds have coevolved an innate preference for red flowers. This view has been supported and challenged by field (Woods 1927, Wagner 1946, Stiles 1976) and experimental studies (Sherman 1913, Bené 1941, 1945, Lyerly et al. 1950, Collias and Collias 1968, Miller and Miller 1971, Ewald 1979, Wheeler 1980, Welker 1984). These and other workers have proposed that feeding hummingbirds may be influenced by weather, time of day, location of food source, chemical composition of nectar, concentration of nectar, proximity to perches, availability of alternate foods, and competition.

GORGONIO RUIZ-CAMPOS, LORENZO QUINTANA-BARRIOS (Author)

NOTE: FIRST MAINLAND RECORD OF THE RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH FROM BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO

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On 15 September 1990 we collected a Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) at Rancho Casa Verde, western slope of the Sierra Juárez, east of Ensenada, Baja California, México (32° 04' N, 116° 05' W; altitude 1370 m). The specimen, an adult male of 113 mm total length (Figure 1), was taken climbing in Pinus jeffreyi, and represents the first mainland record of this species from Baja California.

The fall of 1990 saw a large incursion of the Red-breasted Nuthatch in California, just north of the U.S.A.–Mexico international boundary (Rich Stallcup pers. comm.), and is probable that our collected bird in mainland Baja California was in transit rather than a breeder or resident.