Birds of Pine-Oak Woodland in Southern Arizona and Adjacent Mexico
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. COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA NUMBER 32 Birds of Pine-Oak Woodland in Southern Arizona and Adjacent Mexico , BY JOE T. M-HALL, JR. BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY March 15,1957 COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA NUMBER 32 Birds of Pine-Oak Woodland in Southern Arizona and Adjacent Mexico BY JOE T. MARSHALL, JR. BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY March 15, 1957 SPOTTED SCREECH OWL 011:\‘ 7RIcllol‘ SI.$’ Edited by ALDEN H. MILLER and FRANK A. PITELKA at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology University of California, Berkeley NOTE The publications of the Cooper Ornithological Society consist of two series--The Condor, a bimonthly journal, and the Pacific Coast Avifauna, for the accommodation of papers the length of which pro- hibits their appearance in The Condor. For information as to either series, addressC. V. Duff, Business Manager, 2911 Antelo View Drive, Los Angeles 24, California, or Thomas R. Howell, Assistant Business Manager, Department of Zoology, University of California, Los An- geles, California. The Society wishes to acknowledge the generous aid given in the publication of Avifauna Number 32 by the artist, Don R. Eckelberry, and by an anonymous donor who financed the color plate. CONTENTS PAGE Introduction . 5 Acknowledgments _...................................................,.................. 8 Flora ._.................................................................................................. 9 Description of camps_____ _..... _.._...._.._ .____ ._.._........._..,........................ 15 Northeastern group ____..___..__.__.. ..__.._.._. _._.__._...___..____............, 15 Southwestern group 2 2 Vegetation __~..~____.._.._...... .._................................................ 31 Spatial relations ___..___.____ ._.._ . .._......._.._..................................3 1 Classification of pine-oak woodland 35 Heterogeneity of pine-oak woodland ___________....._.__..____.._____.__.... 36 Conclusions on vegetation ____..___._______..__._................................ 3 7 Avifauna 40 Measured census ___............._.._.................................................... 40 Augmented census _.........._.......................................................... 41 Distribution . 44 Behavior __........_.......... _.._ _........_._..______....._...___.._____.___.____ 50 Habitat 53 Competition _............................................................................... 60 Conclusions on avifauna ____._.__....._.._..........................................63 Accounts of species . .._.._.___......_...........................__........__........_......... 69 Literature cited . .. 122 INTRODUCTION Woodland of mixed pines and oaks is familiar mountain scenery in Mexico, whence it extends into southeastern Arizona along with many kinds of Mexican birds. This woodland occupies a belt from about 5500 to 6500 feet in elevation between encinal (oak woodland) below and ponderosa pine forest above. It combines tree forms of both these zones so as to make a smooth transition between them. The present report com- pares the numbers of each speciesof breeding bird in a seriesof stations, within pine-oak woodland, which were visited in the summers of 1951, 1952, and 1953. These sites extend from the Pinaleno and Santa Catalina mountains in Arizona south into central Sonora and to the Sierra Madre Occidental of northwestern Chihuahua (fig. 1). The stations were selected in relatively flat terrain in well-developed pine-oak woodland where there was water and a good place to camp. The stations differed in the following ways which affected the local occurrence of birds: steepness,whether on a ridge or in a canyon, amount of water and riparian vegetation, stature and spacing of trees, amount of grass, and proximity to coniferous forest. My censuseswere linear; I walked about a mile along a road, stream, or canyon, whistling an owl call, particularly that of the Pygmy Owl, which rousesmost of the small birds. Then I recorded each pair, flock: or singing male either on a map (fig. 2 ) sketched to scale and showing vegetation and topography, on a tabulation over a paced-off mile, or on a tabulation of a cross-country hike for which I estimated the distance. For locali- ties visited two or more summers, the census on maps showed which species used the same territories in successiveyears. I also took notes in the field on behavior, especially feeding behavior, and collected specimens here and there, generally off the censusplaces, to learn about breeding status and food taken as well as to authenticate critical records of occurrence. In addition to the census, I sought to learn how each kind of bird uses pine-oak vegetation in its hunting and what it choosesfor its place of activity. From these considerations an attempt is made to explain its abundance and distribution within the study area. Separated from each other by desert lowlands, the mountains of this area are small, steep and rugged, except for the Sierra Madre, which is a vast plateau. Therefore the pine-oak woodland, limited to mountains, occurs in isolated patches strung out to the north and west of its extensive domain in the Sierra Madre. Snow covers these moun- tains for short periods in the winter, but at least half the annual precipitation is rain from thunderstorms in July, August, and September, which is the growing season for grass and wildflowers. By June, the driest month, the ground is parched and is bare from grazing. There is pleasure and excitement in seeing for the first time which trees and birds are present on some of these remote peaks; for instance, to find Quercus viminea close to Arizona inthe Pinitos,Mountains: to-record the Turkey andthePygmy _ Owl in the Sierra de 10s,4jos; to see bears and Steller Jays in the Sierra Aconchi, which is only 60 miles airline from Hermosillo, Sonora; and to find a colony of House Wrens on the Sierra Azul. Other ranges are well-known from previous study by biologists. Edgar Mearns (1907) was attracted to the border mountains, especially the San Luis range, during his service as biologist with the International Boundary Commission from 1892 to 1894. His descriptions of the area, its flora and animal life, and his adventures make fascinating reading. Forrest Shreve’s classic, “The vegetation of a desert mountain range” (1915), pertains to the Santa Catalina Mountains, but it is the key to under- standing the plant life of the whole region of my study. Wallmo (1955) has recently CSI 6 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 32 PltjA LEN0 wet Canyon 109 I iIZONA‘ I NEW CHIRICAHUA 108 .- Gardner canyon HUACHUCA Fig. 1. Study area and localities where observations were made in pine-oak woodland. The contour represents the lower border of pine-oak, at about 5500 to 6000 feet elevation. studied the vegetation of the Huachuca Mountains. White (1948) and Le Sueur (1945) made large plant collections and analyzed the vegetation respectively of El Tigre Mountain and the northern part of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Brand (1937) also studied the vegetation of the Sierra Madre, in connection with his extensive geographical studies in northwestern Chihuahua. During 1890 Lumholtz (1905) visited the Sierra Ngcori, where he saw the Imperial Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilis imperialis). Among the many papers on birds of southeastern Arizona mountains Brandt’s (1951: 644-703) is especially valuable to ecologistsbecause it lists the plants and birds found 1957 BIRDS OF PINE-OAK WOODLAND 7 _ PINE-OF,& WOOD!_,ND‘ 0 Fig. 2. A representative census map from the Chiricahua Mountains, showing .three species of owls of the genus Otus. Dots and dashes refer to distinctive individual pat- terns in the syncopated song of the Spotted Screech Owl, Otus trichopsis. In paren- theses are records for November, 1951, when, if all individuals present responded, the relative status of trichopsis and asio was apparently the reverse of that in the spring of 1953. However, neither species calls much in November ; in fact the Spotted Screech Owls shown are the only ones I have ever heard in winter. The record for Otm stops (= fEammeolus) is not particularly early, for this owl arrives at the end of March in the Santa Catalina Mountains and remains until well into October. in the vicinity of a typical nest for each species.Scott (1886-1888) reported birds from the Catalina Mountains. The birds of the Sierra Madre in Chihuahua have been inves- tigated by collectors ever since Nelson and Goldman’s expeditions (Nelson ;and Gold- man, 1926; Goldman, 1951; Friedmann, Griscom, and Moore, 1950). The important collections from the mountains of northern Sonora, aside from recent specimens taken 8 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 32 by A. R. Phillips and myself, are those of Mearns in the San Luis and San Jose moun- tains, B. Campbell on El Tigre, W. W. Brown in the Sierra de San Antonio, and J. C. Cahoon on the Oposura. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation supported this study finan- cially. The following persons provided hospitality in the field, companionship on trips, or assisted with transportation: John Bishop, Enrique Bostick, Harold Broadbooks, William H. Brown (loan of truck during 1951), Rafael N. Corella, Gerald Day, Ether Haynie, Lincoln Hathaway, Melvin Lee Hubbard (airplane trip Douglas, Arizona, to Moctezuma, Sonora), Harold Lim, Peter Marshall, Senora Colette de Moreno, Jose Rodriguez, John M. Tucker, Abelino Valenzuela, Mariano Vance, Charles Wallmo, Mr. and Mrs. Elvin