Distributional List of the Birds in Utah
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Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1927-05-01 Distributional list of the birds in Utah Clarence Cottam Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Life Sciences Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Cottam, Clarence, "Distributional list of the birds in Utah" (1927). Theses and Dissertations. 7663. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/7663 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. CF �!!.i 13!.!1�& 0! Y.t!!i --0•00--- :s y 14A.Y - 1927 .BIIiDS OF UT�H TilLii OF COlrTEKTS INTRCDUOTIOl! • . • • • 4 - ? ?W OF TREA.TMEliT • • • • • • • • 8 - 9 . A.CimOWLEDGZMElrl'S • • • • • • • • • 10 - 11 THE BIRDS OF tTrAH •••••••••l2 - 140 HYfOTHltTICA.L LIST •••••••••141 - 144 SULl�HY • • • • • • • • • • • • • 145 - 146 BIBLIOGRAPHY ••••••••••• 147 - 160 I'!ID� • • • • • • • • • • • . ••161 - 164 -4- rnTRODUOTIOlJ Systematic ornithology has been woefully neglected in Utah. While this state has a number of men who know her birds and who have aroused interest in them, they have produced no published record of what we have. So far as the writer kl.1ows there is no adequate, representative, or system- atic collection of Utah species within the state. Utah has, however, been fortunate in having a nuraber of expert ornithologists collect and study the bird life of different sections of bar territory. It seems that the first person to attempt to catalogue all the birds froin Utah was Mr. c~ Hart Merriam, whose report as zoologist, to Dr. F. V,, H~den in the u. s. Biological Survey of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Ut~, was published in 1872 (pp 713-715). This report gives a summary list of 175 species, representing all known Uta.'h birds. It is a compilation of Merriazn1s own record together with those of Messrs. Allen; Ridgwa;r, and Henshaw who preceded or worked contemporaneously with him in the territory. Dr. Merriamts collection was ma.de in the Salt Lake Valley in Ji.lile of 1872. Mr. Allen also collected in this region from September l to October 8, 1871. Mr. Ridgway reports collections from Ma;, to August, 1883 at Deep Creek, northwestern Utah, Cache, Salt Lake, and Utah Valleys and from the Wasatch and Uintah Mountains • .r. Henshaw (1874) increased the Merriam list to 214 species, am published this report as an 11.A.nnotated List of Birds of Utah. 11 Of the early collectors, ~r. Henshaw .nade the most detailed study a.ud collection of tre bird life of this region. He came here in 1872 as orithologist of the -5- Wheeler Survey, assistant to Dr. Yarrow. A collection of over six hund.rErl bird skins, representing 165 species, was made from July to December betwen Salt Lake City and st. George. Of the otr£r ornithologists who have collected in the state, some have made a rather detailed study of the bird life of a particular sect ion. Dr. E.W. Nelson (1874) made a .study and collection of the birds of the northern r~ of the Uintah Mountains, thirty miles south of Fort Bridger, Wioming, In Ji.llle and July 1872. He also collected in the Salt Lake Valley from July 27 to A%'1l.St 8, of the same year. From MS¥ 11 to May 15 Dr. C. Hart Merriam and Vernon Bailey, of the Death Valley Expedition of 1891, found seventy-three species of birds in Washington CountJ. In the summers from 1914 to 1916, Dr. Alexander Wetmore made a study of the alkali poisoning of the water fowl in tho Bear River marshes, in northern Uta...'1. B.is re:porls shed considerable light on the distrfbution and abundance of the bird life of that region. It is the pu.7)ose of this study to bring together this scattered and importa.rit infor.:iation a.:ld to supplement it with personal reco=ds and collections, with the ho~e of thereby producing at least, a fairly inclusive and up-to-date record of the ~CC"..U"renceand distribution of the cirds of utah. Also a necessary part of this problem has been to compile the synononw that has been used in com1ection with each of the Utah species. Further, an attempt has been made to catalogue all the ori 6inal literature that deals with the distribution of the birds of the state. All additional. ambition has been to help in the establishment of a collection that would be representative cf our avifauna. -6- In pi·epa.rir.g the .:nain lict :c>resented in this paper, considerable care has been tai:cen in placing species not definitely esta.blisr..ed as Utah birds. In each case, where t~c occurrence of a recorded species is doubted , it has been consigned to the Hypothetical List as a s~ecies credited to Utah on questionaitable or unsatisfactor7 grounds. In this study a total of 287 species and subspecies of birds is listed, which, so far as the writer can determine, represents an accurate accountof the avifauna of the state of Utah. Undoubtedly this list will be increased a.s more detailed and extensive research is conducted.. There is a pressiI+c, need for additional field. work. &t present but little is known of the 'bi:rrd life of southeastern Utah. The writer contea~lates a collecting trip to that section during the coming summer with the Brigham Young Universit¥ second Biological Expedition. The writer's personal records and collections have been sec-.u.0 ~d aa a result of co~siderable field work. From June 2 to Juli 7, the Brigham Yo~ University, under the direction of Dr. Vasco Bf. Tanner, conducted a zoological collecting expeditiou through northern Utah. The personnel of the party con- sisted of Dr. Tanner, 1'r. C. I.wnn Hayward, Mr. C. J. Bro-:m., and the writer. The route traveled was from Frovo to Salt Lake Valley, Bear River 1¥1.a.rshes, Logau canyon, Cache Valley, over.the northern Wasatch Mountains to Bear Lake, Bear River Valley, and through the southwestern corner of Wyoming to Dag~tt County, Utah. From there the party traveled to Sheep Creek and the Fl~ Gorge of the Green River. After a brief stay in this region, the party czrossed the Uinta..i. Mountains to Vernal, thence to the DLlosaur Natic11al ~OnUillent al..ll -7- and Du.chesne River, over the Wasatch Mour.tains to Hebsr Valley and back to Provo, . .A.b0"11t100 s:wecies of birds were collected. In September the writer left Provo for a ten da.'{ collecting tri:p to 'i1ashington County. In December, in com:pa.nywith Mr. Ta;g.ner, a.r.other fifteen d~- collecting trip to St. George was taken. In 5eptember a small collection wa.s u.i.:.c at the Sand Dunes and Sinks of iiliillard County. Every rao:.:.t:l::.during the p,:a,st year speci:rens have been collected in Utah Oounty. Several features combine to insure a rich bird life for Utah.. I~ the first place, the marked topographical diversity of the entire state together wit::. tl.e 300 miles of latitudh.Liil ra.~e in addition to its geographic position with reference to the Great Basin, gives Uta.~ a great variety of clL~ate. In regard~ to temperature zonation, Utah can boast of all the diversities of climate that one would encounter on a trip from Lower Sonora, Mexico to the a.retie circle. · With respect to moisture, the state as a whole partakes ®f the desert, the annual precipitation va.r;·ine frc;;i three inches in some of the dryer sec~ions to more than thirty inches in the mountainous regions. Fresh- water laz.es and mountair. streams together with the Great Sale ~e offer <&n unique combination for water bird~, and indeed these sections abo~ in t~em.. Finally, Utah's position in at least a partial migratory lane decrees t,iat l ..er a.vii'aWJb-1 life sliall be UllUa\li:Llly rich. -8- In general, the plan of treatment of this paper is similar to that followed by Dr. Joseph Grinnell in his "Distributional List of the Birds of California,tt and by Mr. Harry swarth in his "Distributional List of the Birds of Ari :zona.." The classification, the numeration, and the nomenclature used is that followed by the tt.American Ornithologists' Union Check List of north American Birds" (1910) to and inclucHng the .Sixt~ei,tli Supplement. ;,:oderu s.;.,ier..ti:fic usa~e is follov;ed in dro•J_pillf,:, the possessive form in the veruacular n.:.u:;es or specie:a, such as S.!.y :Pnoebo instead of S..;..J'- P-oebe, etc. T,,.e first nw:1ber i-"ivos the consect.itive ordor of this list. Th., second nw.:ber, which is in oareut;1esis, is the nuwber that is asuribeu to the particular sDecies or supspecies bJ the-· u. u. Check List. '?ue s.:rnonums here ci tea. a.re the names whicn have fo:i."llle:cly b~E;n -pplieu. to the particular species in q_ua:;-cion ~s found in Utah, the co::i.uon 1:>00:.C nai:,es a.ro also iusertec_. The term "purtu is used in connection with s:monymy tJ:)at h;i.5 been applied. to two or more species or subspecies in this state. The Bibliography contains the titles of the publications used in connection with this paper.