Ornithology 2B Summary (Fall 2010)

If you miss a class, please check this page and study the listed topics in your field guide. Click here for last year's calendar.

Class notes by Elisabeth Koster are here. (Plumage and molt terminology here. )

Please register at eBird and email me your eBird ID. I can then offer to share field trip lists with you.

We completed and reviewed the crows and ravens on page 326. Click here for my photo of a Common Raven in San Francisco and detailed taxonomic comments. My photos of a Common Raven battling a Pocket Gopher are here and here. A closeup of the gopher is here.

Recommended Reading:
Omland, K. E., C. L. Tarr, W. I. Boarman, J. M. Marzluff, and R. C. Fleischer. 2000. Cryptic genetic variation and paraphyly in ravens. Proc. Royal Society of London B 267:2475-2482. (PDF)

This was the last class for the semester. Please preregister if you plan to enroll in the Spring. Click here for details. Thank you for your interest and support.

We completed and reviewed the jays and magpies on page 324. Brown Jay photos from Costa Rica are here and here with discussion on polymorphism in this species. Click here for my photo of a Green Jay in Texas. My photo of a Yellow-billed Magpie photo from Coyote Point is here.

We completed and reviewed the jays on page 322. Click here for a photo and discussion of identification of Island Scrub-Jay. Click here for my photo of a Mexican Jay in Arizona.

Recommended Reading:
Dunn, J.L., and K.L. Garrett. 2001. Parapatry in Woodhouse’s and California Scrub-Jays revisited. West. Birds 32:186-187. (PDF) & photos. Formal AOU Proposal.

We completed and reviewed the jays on page 320. Click here for a photo of a Blue Jay in Fairfield, Solano County and here for a photo of a Blue Jay in Humboldt County. Click here for photos and discussion of a Steller's Jay from Colorado and here for a Steller's Jay photo from Golden Gate Park. Click here for a photo of a Gray Jay from our Alaska trip. A Clark's Nutcracker in San Francisco is here.

We completed and reviewed the vireos on page 318. Click here for photos and notes of a Yellow-green Vireo at Point Reyes. Click here, here, here and here for other photos of Yellow-green Vireo in California. Click here and here for my notes on Yellow-green Vireos in San Francisco and Pescadero. Click here for a photo of a Red-eyed Vireo in Arcata. Click here for photos and notes on a Philadelphia Vireo in Kern County, California and here for my notes on a Philadelphia Vireo in Humboldt County and a photo is here. Philadelphia Vireo in Monterey County is here. A Warbling Vireo with dark lores is duscussed here. Yucatan Vireo photo from Texas is here.

Recommended Reading:
Johnson, N.K., and Zink, R.M. 1985. Genetic evidence for relationships among the Red-eyed, Yellow-green, and Chivi Vireos. Wilson Bull. 97:421-435. (PDF)
Morgan, J.G. et al. 1985. Yucatan Vireo appears in Texas. American Birds. 39:245-246. (PDF).

We completed the vireos on page 316. Menlo Park Bell's Vireo from Spring 2010 is here. Click here for photos and external links on the Eastern Bell's Vireo in Golden Gate Park. Click here for a photo and discussion on the identification of Hutton's Vireo. Click here for photos and my notes on a Blue-headed Vireo at Point Reyes; and here for photos, video, audio and my notes on a Blue-headed Vireo in Orange County. Blue-headed Vireo in San Diego is here; Monterey County is here; and ones on the Farallons are here, here and here. A disputed vireo of the Cassin's/Plumbeous type currently being seen in Alameda is here. Note particularly the greenish edges to the secondaries. What do you think it is?

Click here for my photo of a cowbird trap and discussion on cowbird control.

Recommended Reading:
Greaves, J., L. Chadwick, and J. Morlan. 2006. Featured photo: Apparent Eastern Bell's Vireo in San Francisco. Western Birds 37:119-122. (Online version here.)
Heindel, M. T. 1996. Field identification of the Solitary Vireo complex. Birding 28: 459–471. (PDF)

We completed and reviewed the vireos on pages 314. Recent California White-eyed Vireo images are here, here, and here. Click here for my notes on a White-eyed Vireo in Dublin, California. Excellent White-eyed Vireo photos here and here. Other White-eyed Vireos are here and here. Recent California Yellow-throated Vireo images are here, here and here. Click here and here for Yellow-throated Vireo photos and here, here and here for my notes on Yellow-throated Vireos in Kern, Orange and Monterey Counties.

This was the last class for Part A. Please register for Part B as soon as possible if you have not already done so.

We completed and reviewed the shrikes on page 312. Click here for a photo of the Brown Shrike at Inverness Park. Click here for my photos of a Northern Shrike at Davis. Additional immature Northern Shrike photos from California are here and here.

Recommended Reading: Patten, M.A. and K.F. Campbell. 2000. Typological thinking and the conservation of subspecies: the case of the San Clemente Island loggerhead shrike. Diversity and Distributions 6:177–188 [PDF]

Note: Part A ends next week. Please register between now than then to take advantage of the $10 early registration appreciation discount.

We completed and reviewed the flycatchers on page 310. Click here, here, here, here and here for photos of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers in California. Click here for photos and detailed discussion of an apparrent Scissor-tailed Flycatcher X Western Kingbird hybrid in New York.

Click here and here for my photos and notes on Great Kiskadees in Texas (click full size for best rendering). My photo of a Great Kiskadee in Trinidad is here. Here is my Great Kiskadee photo with notes from Costa Rica.

Click here for details and photos of a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher at Bodega Bay, here for photos of a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher at Pescadero, and here for photos of a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher in Baja.

Click here and here for my photos of Social Flycatcher in Costa Rica and here for my Social Flycatcher photo from Panama.

We completed and reviewed the kingbirds on page 308. Click here for a photo of the Fork-tailed Flycatcher at Bridgehaven and here for a detailed article on North American occurrences.

Click here for photos and discussion of a possible Eastern X Western Kingbird hybrid. Click here for an Eastern Kingbird in San Francisco. Click here for a photo of an Eastern Kingbird at Desert Center, here for one at ZZyzx, here for a photo of an Eastern Kingbird at Orick, here for one near Alturas, and here for an Eastern Kingbird on San Clemente Island. Click here for my photo of an Eastern Kingbird in Ohio and here for my Eastern Kingbird in Massachusetts..

Click here for a Gray Kingbird photo from Tobago.

Click here, here and here for details and photos of a Thick-billed Kingbird at Half Moon Bay; and click here for my notes on a Thick-billed Kingbird at Pomona.

A paper on the identification and status of Loggerhead Kingbird is here and recent photo of a real Loggerhead Kingbird in Florida is here. Biography of James Bond is here.

Click here for a summary of bird name changes from the 51st supplement.

We covered and reviewed the kingbirds on page page 306. Click here for my photo of a Cassin's Kingbird in Orange County. Click here for an audio recording and songogram of the dawn song of Cassin's Kingbird and an essay by Nathan Pieplow regarding its similarity or lack thereof to the call of the Buff-collared Nightjar. Counterpoint by David Sibley here.

Click here for my account with photos of a Couch's Kingbird in Fullerton and here for my photo of Couch's Kingbird in Texas.. Click here for my photos of a Tropical Kingbird at Colma and here for a photo of Tropcial Kingbird at Petaluma. My photo of a Tropical Kingbird in Tobago is here. Click here and here and here for Tropical Kingbirds in Humboldt County. A Tropical Kingbird in Contra Costa County is here. A San Francisco Tropical Kingbird is here and a very soggy Tropical Kingbird from Half Moon Bay is here. Click here for a Tropical Kingbird photo I took in Panama.