Letters to the Editor

ONE GOOD REASON TO GO TO ALASKA WITH BIRD BONANZAS To the Editor: The scene: Remote St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, in the Bering Sea, 30 miles from Siberia. An unusual The article on the Eared Trogon in the pipit has been spotted by a participant of another March 1978issue of American Birds, raisesa birding tour. Their leaders look the bird over, but it is still a mystery. "Where are the BIRD BONANZAS number of points that should be commented tour leaders?" someone asks. Ben King is summoned. upon. Ban is the author of "A Field Guide to the Birds of The lack of records for the northern Sierras Southeast Asia," he is currently working on guides for northeast Asia and India, and he has more than 10 of Sonoraand Chihuahuamay tell us more years field experience in Asia. There is no Asian bird with which he is unfamiliar. He observes the bird about the distribution of observers than of through the scope for several seconds. "It's a Pechora trogons, for if the mountains of southwestern Pipit," he states confidently, and describes its field characters. Participants of both tours line up to ob- New Mexico are rarely visited then those serve it in the telescope and add it to their lifelists. southof the borderare hardly lookedat. This is not an isolated instance. Over and over again While working with Richard Crossin when Ben identifies the difficult Asian species that are a puzzle to the other "experts." he was doing his study of the Tufted Jay If you go on another tour to Alaska, you may be lucky (Cyanocoraxdickeyi) in the barrancasnear the to find that Ben King is in the same place at the same time. If you go on a BIRD BONANZAS tour, you Sinaioa-Durangoborder, I saw both Eared won't have to trust to luck. (Euptilotisneoxenus) and MountainTrogons 49 MORE GOOD REASONS TO GO (All have been (Trogon mexicanus) on numerous occasions. seen on BIRD BONANZAS tours to Alaska): Laysan Albatross Eurasian House Martin The sympatricrelationship is morean artifact Flesh-footed Shearwater Gray-headed Chickadee of languagethan a usageof the samehabitat. In Scaled Petrel Eye-browed Thrush Red-faced Cormorant Dusky Thrush the canyonsthey are rarely found together. Smew Stonechat White-tailed Eagle Wheatear The Eared is a bird of the heavier, broad- Ringed Plover Bluethroat Dotterel Siberian Rubythroat Rufous-necked Stint Dusky Warbler Temminck's Stint Attic Warbler Long-toed Stint Red-throated Flycatcher Sharp-tailed Sandpiper White Wagtail Great Knot Gray Wagtail A subscriptionto Wood Sandpiper Yellow Wagtail Gray-tailed Tattler Pechora Pipit American Birds Terek Sandpiper Red-throated Pipit Common Sandpiper Indian Tree Pipit Black-tailed Godwit Brown Shrike makes a most welcome Bar-tailed Godwit Brambling Slaty-backed Gull Hawfinch Christmas gift Red-legged Kittiwake Eurasian Bullfinch Kittlitz's Murrelet Common Rose Finch Whiskered Auklet McKay's Bunting Common Skylark Rustic Bunting Foryour friends who have not yet discovered White-throated Needletail themany fascinations of this journal, a year's In everyarea that BIRD BONANZAStours, we try subscriptionis a giftthat will bringyour good to use the finest leader available. We don't use birders lookingfor free trips or extra income.You won't find wishes,over andover again. the expert leadingour toursto Columbia,also our tours to Alaska. In 1979our tourswill visit SoutheastAsia, India, Send subscription orders to American CostaRica, Panama, Colombia, Surinam, Venezuela, Birds, 950 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y.. GreatBritian, Kenya, South Africa, West Africa, New Guinea and other areas. 10022.One year $10. Two years $18. Canada: One year $12 (US). Two years$20. A gift card Bird Bonanzas in your name will be sent at Christmastime. 12550 BiscayneBoulevard, Suite 501 North Miami, Florida 33181

1072 This Year... Go Birding in CUBA HOME OF THE BEE HUMMINGBIRD

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1073 Now! Binders for American Birds Durable,handsome protection foryour recent volumes

Toanswermany requests,wenow ß Binders are designed toholdcur- umes of American Birds. older volumes if two volumes are

leaf-green washable vinyl. The ß American Birds volumes increase metal bindingsare riveted. Title is in value every year. Protect yours ßcanThestamped providecovers in goldarebinders bound on spineforincurrent attractive and frontvol- thisrentbound attractive,volumes,together.butinexpensive can be used way for ß cover.Loose issues can be inserted in brarybooks of your recent volumes $ 4.50 each,postpaid. of American Birds. (Issues can be seconds,removedat creating any time,permanent undamaged).li- Send check or money order to. CirculationDept.,American Birds National950 ThirdAudubon AvenueSociety NewYork, N.Y. 10022

1074 leaved cover that occursalong the bottom and forgetting that at the periphery of ranges lower slopes, while the Mountain is a bird of numbers of individualsare often drastically the drier, open, upper canyon slopes and reduced by natural causes, hence statements ridges. The upper areas have most of the about numbers and establishment, which are madrone trees (Arbutus), although a number based on little data must be viewed with of the fruiting trees and shrubsoccur mainly in extreme caution. At present we do not know the part utilized by the Eared Trogons. An whether or not the Coppery-tailedTrogon or inverted A would best visualize the areas of the Five-stripedSparrow populations are self- the canyon utilized by the two species,with sustaining, or whether they depend on a the Eared found below the crossbar and the constantinflow from the main rangeareas of Mountain on the two legs above. these species. Only studies,including band- I feel from observation that a number of ing, will provide this information. changesin the Sierra Madre of Mexico may be -- Peter Hubbell, 6200 N. Via Ranchero Influencingthe occurrenceof certain species Tucson, Ariz. 85704 in the United States. Logging, overgrazingand firewood cutting have probably increasedthe Dale Zimmerman replies: abundance of rank, odored-leaved forbs, If, as Peter Hubbell's observationsindicate, including various Salvias, and as Arbutus is the Eared Trogonprefers mesic lower slopes, rarely loggedor cut for firewood becauseit is and the MountainTrogon is moreof a pine-oak almost impossible to split, it has probably zone bird, then we have at least a partial increased. explanation for the sympatry exhibited by We must remember that the Coppery-tailed these two species. Yet certainly the Eared Trogon (T. elegans) in the United States often lives amongpines. The photographof its occupiesa nichethat is not typicalof its main habitat on page25 of Joe Marshall'spine-oak range in Mexico, where it is found mainly in woodland study shows open, dry, pine-oak thorn forests and included riparian vegetation. growth. That author listed the preferred Generally the Mountain Trogon in Mexico is habitat as "pine forest," and mentionedterri- found in types of canyons occupied in the tories in pine-oak woods includingadjacent United States by the Coppery-tailed. ponderosaand white pine stands. It is also apparent that many people are Eared Trogonsin Durangoreportedly range

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1075 into dry pine-oak areas, thus entering the for nearly 40 years. In the Chiricahuas we Mountain Trogon's realm. One observer has know the same sitesto be occupiedin succes- seen Eareds at a Durangan site where I have sive years, most likely by the same birds, found only the Mountain. As Hubbell says, although there probably is continued recruit- the two rarely are found together.but they do ment from Mexico at intervals. The contem- frequent the same habitat to somedegree -- plated bandingof Chiricahuantrogons and the perhaps at different times. Southern Eared current study of Arizona's Five-striped Trogonsmay enjoy a greateraltitudinal range Sparrows may shed light on the composition than those in northern Sonora, as Marshall and stability of these northern populations. noted for the Elegant Trogon. That author's Since publishing my paper in American study clearly revealsthe Eared as a pine-oak Birds, a note entitled "Observations of the woodland bird, but elsewhere it may prove to Eared Trogon and the Aztec Thrush in the be ecologically less restricted. Perhaps, as Sierra Madre Occidental" by RoseAnn Rowlett northern outliers of a speciesthat rangesinto (Mex. Birds Newsletter II, No. 2:11-13, 1977) Michoacan, the Sonoran populationis some- has come to my attention. The author and her what atypical. companions found Eared Trogons in "moist Certainly one northward movement does pine-oak" vegetationin Durango, and noted not constitute a permanent range expansion. that the birds perched "mostly in pines, Natural forcesfrequently decimate peripheral occasionally in oaks or dead snags." They populations. These latter thus tend to be found the Mountain Trogon "... fairly unstable, with greatly fluctuating numbers. numerous in the immediate area" and noted Nevertheless, range extensionsare preceded both speciesfeeding on madrune fruits. by initial wanderers.I think we may assume -- Dale A. Zimmerman, Department of the Elegant Trogon to be reasonably well Biological Science. Western New Mexico established in Arizona where it now has nested Univ., Silver City, N.M. 88061

Birds of North America andhow to photographthem [ t , or PerryD.Slocum vo,.o..224 Pages ' 100specie.slNCOLOR Over 80 Photos at Nest ß Many Rare Species ß Oescribes7 methods of Bird Photography Experts acclaim: "Magnificent" -- "Beautiful" - "SuperbPhotography" Price $12.95 About author-photographer: Florida residents add 4% State Tax ß Listed in Top 5 Nature Photographersby PSA's WHO'S Send order to WHO for 5 Consecutive Years ß Winner of over 150 Medals and Honors in World Salons PERRY D. SLOCUM, Dept. A ß Diamond Star in PhotographicSociety of America (PSA) 1101 Cypress Gardens Road Winter Haven, Florida 33880 Published in cooperation with FLORIDA AUDUBON SOCIETY.

1076 AmericanBirds, September 1978