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A Review of the Status of the White-Faced Ibis in Winter in California

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A Review of the Status of the White-Faced Ibis in Winter in California WESTERN BIRDS Volume 27, Number 4, 1996 A REVIEW OF THE STATUS OF THE WHITE-FACED IBIS IN WINTER IN CALIFORNIA W. DAVID SHUFORD and CATHERINE M. HICKEY, Point ReyesBird Observatory, 4990 ShorelineHighway, Stinson Beach, California 94970 REBECCAJ. SAFRAN, Departmentof Wildlife,Humboldt State University, Arcata, California 95521 GARY W. PAGE,Point Reyes Bird Observatory.4990 ShorelineHighway, Stinson Beach, California 94970 The White-facedIbis (Plegadis chihi) has been classified as a Bird Species of SpecialConcern in California(Remsen 1978, S. Laymonpers. comm.) and a potential candidatefor federal threatenedor endangeredstatus (USFWS 1991, Trapp 1995) becauseof populationdeclines in the western UnitedStates, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s (USFWS 1985, Ryder and Manry 1994). Althoughthe breedingstatus of the ibisin thisregion has been reviewed(Ryder 1967, USFWS 1985, Ryderand Manry 1994), little has been publishedon its abundanceand distributionin winter. Here we summarizedata on the winterdistribution, abundance, and habitatuse of the White-facedIbis in Californiaduring the lasthalf century.We alsoestimate the currentwinter population size and reviewhistorical population trends. METHODS We determined the winter status of the White-faced Ibis from wetland censuses,roost counts, and publishedand unpublishedobservations. As part of Point Reyes Bird Observatory'sPacific Flyway Project, we organized surveysof all shorebirdsand ibisin all key weftandsof California'sCentral Valleyand the Mojave,Colorado, and southernGreat Basindeserts once to twice per winter from November 1992 to February1995. Surveyswere conductedfrom the ground,except in the CentralValley where logistical constraintsdictated a combinationof aerial and groundcounts. The aerial countswere conductedprimarily from a Cessna172 aircraftby Pageand WesternBirds 27:169-196, 1996 169 WHITE-FACED IBIS IN WINTER IN CALIFORNIA Shuford,the groundcounts by a network of skilledvolunteers, agency personnel,and projectstaff. We reliedon groundcounts for all wetlandsin the SanJoaquin Valley, except for the southernTulare Basin, where we used aerial surveysfor private duck clubs,a few other private wetlands,and floodedagricultural lands. Aside from the Tulare Basin,we did not survey much agriculturalhabitat in the San JoaquinValley. We knew of no ibis concentrationsin agriculturalhabitat in this region except next to the 72,000-ha Grasslandswetlands complex near Los Banos,Merced County, where roost countsdescribed below appear to have includedibis from agriculturallands. Aerial surveyswere the primarycensus method for the SuisunMarsh, Sacramento-SanJoaquin River Delta (Delta), and Sacra- mentoValley, though we regularlyundertook ground counts on federaland statewildlife areas and a few selectedprivate weftands and sewageponds. We gathereddata on habitatuse by assigningobservations of ibisoccurrence to broad habitat categories,namely, managed state or federal wildlife refuges,managed duck clubs, pasture lands, rice-stubble fields, fallow fields, alfalfafields, and reservoirs or ponds.We werenot ableto assignsome flying ibisto specifichabitats. We alsoobtained data from countsof ibiscoming to nighttimeroost sites in four knownareas of concentration.From 29 Januaryto I I April I995, Safranand colleagues made I4 countsof ibisat a primaryroost and 3 at a secondaryroost at duckclubs in the Grasslandsweftands complex. Four to seven observers conducted coordinated counts at several roosts in the Grasslandsand at Mendota Wildlife Area (WA), Fresno County, on 28 December1995 and 29 January1996. Three additionalcounts were taken at the main Grasslandsroost site from I6 to 22 FebruaryI996. From 5 December1994 to 29 March 1995 and on 16 January1996, K. Sturm, otherSalton Sea NationalWildlife Refuge (NWR) personnel, and volunteers madefive countsat three to five roostsnear Calipatriaand Imperialin the ImperialValley south of the SaltonSea, ImperialCounty. J. Pikeconducted roostcounts at the Prado Basin,Riverside and San Bernardinocounties, on 28 Februaryand 28 November 1995 and on 8 Januaryand 26 February 1996. A. Montoyaand B. Raschcounted ibis at a roostat CibolaNWR, ImperialCounty, on 7 datesfrom 5 December1995 to 18 January1996. We alsoexamined ibis counts taken by the CaliforniaDepartment of Fish and Gameduring aerial waterfowl surveys of the Grasslandsand Mendota WA, FresnoCounty, from November through February, 1980-81 to 1993- 94; surveysfor 1994-95 and 1995-96 werenot used because they included only areasclosed to hunting,where few ibisoccurred. For additionalwinter (Nov-Mar) recordsof White-facedIbis in California, we searchedthe publishedliterature, including the seasonalreports and ChristmasBird Counts (CBC) in Audubon Field Notes (AFN), American Birds (AB), and National Audubon Society Field Notes (NASFN); we checkedthe unpublishednotebooks of the regionaleditors of the middle Pacificcoast region of NASFN(cited as NB) and contacted regional and local expertsin California.We summarizedall CBC dataand usedthem to assess populationtrends from I970 to I994 and to estimatethe numberof ibis winteringon the coastalslope of centraland southernCalifornia in I994- 95, whenour surveysfrom the moreinland sections of Californiawere most 170 WHITE-FACED IBIS IN WINTER IN CALIFORNIA complete.CBC data for givenyears are reportedby the beginningyear of the countperiod (e.g., 1994 for 1994-95). We grapheddata for onlythe two inland CBCs that sampled core areas for wintering ibis and had complete[Salton Sea (south)]or nearlycomplete (Los Banos, missed 1987) recordsfrom 1970 to 1994. We graphednumbers for all coastalCBCs (combined)from Ventura County southward from 1980 to 1994, whendata were nearlycomplete for all sites.We alsoobtained specimen records of winteringibis from the Los AngelesCounty Museumof Natural History (LACM), Museumof VertebrateZoology (MVZ), San BernardinoCounty Museum (SBCM), San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM), Santa BarbaraMuseum of NaturalHistory (SBMNH), and WesternFoundation of VertebrateZoology (WFVZ). Our designationsof variousdrainage basins in the CentralValley follow the mapsof the CentralValley Habitat Joint Venture (USFWS 1990), exceptthat we includeMendota WA in the San Joaquinrather than the TulareBasin. RESULTS Historical Status, Pre- 1945 Data on the winter statusof the White-facedIbis in Californiaprior to 1945 are very limited.Grinnell and Miller (1944) believedthat the White- facedIbis was chieflya summerresident in Californiaand that "in some yearsa few havewintered." They listedthe followingwintering localities: betweenColusa and Williams,Colusa County, in the SacramentoValley; Stockton,San Joaquin County, in the Sacramento-SanJoaquin River Delta; Los Banos, MercedCounty, in the San JoaquinValley: and in Los AngelesCounty and near San Diego,San DiegoCounty, along the southern Californiacoast. They alsolisted records of "migrantor vagrantoccur- rence," includinga 10 December 1925 record from Humboldt Bay, HumboldtCounty, which falls outside the main historicalor currentwinter- ing range (Figure 1). Other sites of pre-1945 winter ibis occurrence apparently unknown to Grinnell and Miller were Mendota Pool, Fresno County,and Tulare Lake in the southernSan Joaquin Valley (see below and Appendix)and the SaltonSea, ImperialCounty (specimen [SDNHM 18121] collectedby B. Baileyon 28 February1940). Grinnellet al. (1918) summarizedmost of what was known of the former abundanceof ibiswintering in California.Up to that time the largestwinter numbers noted were "several dozen" in the markets of Stockton in the winter of 1885, "morethan a hundred"near Stocktonon 9 February1886, and "about200" nearLos Banos on 30 October1914. W. Minturn(unpubl. field notes)recorded 100 on the LosBanos Game Refuge (now Los Banos WA) on 7 Dec 1935. He also recorded flocks of 300 and 200 on 28 Nov and 10 Dec 1938, respectively,from Tulare Lake (other records in Appendix)and of 12 on 28 March 1936 and 2 on 11 Feb 1939 near Mendota Pool, Fresno County.Holterhoff (1885) reported20 from MissionValley, San Diego County,on 1 January1885, but considereda flockof this size"especially unusual"for the area.The onlyhistorical report from the SacramentoValley wasof twobirds between Colusa and Williams, Colusa County, on 23 and27 171 WHITE-FACED IBIS IN WINTER IN CALIFORNIA ', /' ß < 20 birds(post-1945) ,;.?"" / • ß>20birds(post-1945) /' l ( ....•t - ....... C."-I ... •:•. key1990 areasto 1996 ofibis concentration '..... I f•} ._,'.o• r_."• '5/' ! t •' 1' L--'"' ..... I •,• .•..:.....,--. D•stnct10 ButteSink Area "•. ",•.• s^c:;..? .,.;•% ;•' 4'; •* >,' ,' GrasslandsSetlands'•,• "<"• i":-"•_,- -- --.i • Complex •- ,... l'i. %..,?S•T"'• F•E,c--..__."'•j" ,: rot '•.••, 'NY . SLO't.- ß KER ß. -'-';-,.,. ee ß ß' "e-, ......---,.o1•, PradoBasin "*"--"" ''J:' ..... AnaRiverValley s• CoachellaValley ImperialValley miles o 50 1oo 15o 200 kilometers Figure 1. Historicaland recent distributionof the White-facedIbis in winter in California.Records since 1945 werenot plottedif theyfell within the keyareas of ibis concentration,1990 to 1996 (seeAppendix for additionalrecords). County abbrevia- tions: ALA, Alameda;BUT, Butte; COL, Colusa;CC, Contra Costa; FRE, Fresno; GLE, Glenn; HUM, Humboldt;IMP, Imperial;INY, Inyo; KER, Kern; KIN, Kings; LAK, Lake;LAS, Lassen;LA, Los Angeles;MER, Merced;MTY, Monterey;NAP, Napa; ORA, Orange;RIV, Riverside;SAC, Sacramento;SBT, San Benito;SBE, San Bernardino;SD, San Diego; SJ, San Joaquin;SLO, San Luis Obispo;SM, San Mateo; SBA, Santa Barbara;SCZ, SantaCruz; SOL, Solano;STA,
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