A Record of the Roseate Spoonbill on the Pacific Coast of the Peninsula Of

NOTES

A RECORD OF THE ROSEATE SPOONBILL ON THE PACIHC COAST OF THE PENINSULA OF BAJA CALIFORNIA

EDGAR AMADOR andJUAN JOSE RAMIREZ, Centrode InvestigacionesBio16gicas del Noroeste,S.C., Divisi6nde BiologiaMarina, Apdo. Postal128, La Paz, Baja California Sur 23000, M•xico

On 18 March 1994, we observedand photographeda singleRoseate Spoonbill (,4jaiaajaja) at Esterode RanchoBueno (29 ø 19'N, 111ø 29'W), BajaCalifornia Sur, Mexico. The bird was in breedingplumage and was roostingin the mangrovesnear the head of the estero.The photograph,on file at the Centro de Investigaciones Bio16gicas,La Paz,shows the spatulatebill, pale pink body plumage, and contrastingly brightpink shoulders,but the imageis too smallto be reproducedwell for publication. Locatedat the southernend of the Bahia Magdalena-BahiaAlmejas complex on the Pacific coast, the Estero de Rancho Bueno is a coastallagoon, 11 km long and averaging300 m wide, fringedby mangroves(tYhizophora mangle, Laguncularia racemosa,and Avicenniagerminans). On the Pacificcoast of mainlandMexico the RoseateSpoonbill is residentfrom extreme southernSonora (Knoderet al. 1980, Petersonand Chalif 1973, E. Palacios and E. Mellinkpers. comm.)to Chiapas(A.O.U. 1983). In Baja CaliforniaGrinnell (1928) describedthis species as a sporadicpostbreeding summer visitor to the deltaof the ColoradoRiver, although there are no recentrecords for thisarea (Wilbur1987). The onlyother record of the RoseateSpoonbill for the peninsulais for the eastcoast of Baja CaliforniaSur, where Fernandezet al. (1993) observeda singleindividual in firstfall plumagein the Ensenadade La Paz(24 ø 06' N, 110 ø 23' W) on 7 December 1992. Thereforeour observationrepresents the secondsight record of the Roseate Spoonbillin Baja CaliforniaSur and the firstfor the Pacificcoast of the peninsula. During our surveysof Esterode RanchoBueno, from November1993 to June 1994, thiswas our onlyobservation of a RoseateSpoonbill, so we presumethe bird was a vagrant. Outsideof its usualdistribution the specieshas been recorded irregularlynorth to central California, U.S.A., mainly in late summerand early fall (Small 1994). We thank EduardoPalacios and LeopoldoA. Moreno-Matielafor improvingthis note.

LITERATURE CITED

AmericanOrnithologists' Union. 1983. Check-listof North AmericanBirds, 6th ed. Allen Press, Lawrence, KS. Fernandez,G., Carmona,R., and Brabata,G. 1993. Primer registrode Ajaia ajaja (Threskiornithidae)en la Peninsulade Baja California,M•xico. Rev. Inv. Cient. 4:111-113. Grinnell,J. 1928. A distributionalsummation of the ornithologyof LowerCalifornia. Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool. 32:1-300. Knoder,E., Plaza,P., andSprunt, A. 1980. Statusand distribution of theJabiru Stork and other water birdsin westernMexico, in The Birdsof Mexico:Their Ecology and Conservation(P. Schaefferand S. Ehlers,eds.). Proc. Natl. AudubonSoc. Symp. Peterson,R. T., and Chalif, E. L. 1973. A FieldGuide to Mexican Birds.Houghton Mifflin, Boston. Western Birds 27:89-90, 1996 89 NOTES

Small,A. 1990,.California Birds: Their Status and Distribution. !bis, Vista, CA. Wilbur,S. R. 1987. Birdsof BajaCalifornia. Univ. Calif. Press, Berkeley.

Accepted 25 November 1995

BIMONTHLYJOURNALONFIELDORNITHOLOGY

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9O Wing Your Way to... WesternField Ornithologists 21st Annual Meeting

with the

ColoradoField Ornithologists

ESTES PARK, COLORADO 14-16 June 1996

1996 JOINT CONVENTION OF THE COLORADO FIELD ORNITHOLOGISTS AND WESTERN FIELD ORNITHOLOGISTS

Headquarters: YMCA of the Rockies,Estes Park ConferenceCenter, EstesPark, Colorado80511; phone 800-777-9622.

You are cordiallyinvited to attend this very specialconvention in Estes Park, Colorado,bringing together birders from across western North America. This will be the 34th annualCFO conventionand the 21st annualmeeting of WFO. Membersof the newlyformed Estes Park Bird Club are assistingwith programarrangements. The eventis welltimed, immediately preceding the AmericanBirding Association convention in Park City, Utah, whichruns from 17 to 23 June.

Tentative schedule: Friday, 14 June 1996 5:30 AM Field trip: Wild Basin, south Rocky Mountain National Park; meet at YMCA, bringyour own lunch. 6:00 AM Field trip: Pawnee National Grassland;meet at Crow Valley Camp- ground,a 2-hourdrive from EstesPark. Bringyour own lunch. 91 3:00 PM Check-in:YMCA, EstesPark. Dinner on yourown, availableat the YMCA. 6:00 PM Bird art showpreview, YMCA. 6:30 PM Six-shotslide show, best of members' works. Bring your best bird photos! YMCA. 7:30 PM WFO and CFO boardof directors'meetings, YMCA.

Saturday, 15 June 1996 5:00 AM Fieldtrip: ContinentalDivide and Endo Valley, Rocky Mountain National Park; sackbreakfast provided. 11:30AM Lunch, YMCA, EstesPark. 12:30 PM Bird art showopens, YMCA. 1:00 PM Conventionpapers session, YMCA. 4:30 PM California Bird RecordsCommittee, discussionof selectedrecords deci- sions,YMCA. 4:45 PM Colorado Bird RecordsCommittee, discussionof selectedrecords deci- sions,YMCA. 5:00 PM WFO bird identificationpanel, YMCA. 7:00 PM Banquetand speaker, Park Village Playhouse, 900 MoraineAve., Estes Park.

Sunday, 16 June 1996 5:00 AM Fieldtrips: Wild Basin,Sylvandale Ranch, Continental Divide, and Endo Valley,Rocky Mountain National Park; (possible repeat) Pawnee National Grassland.Sack breakfastand lunchprovided.

Rocky Mountain National Park: A wildernessof someof the mostspectacular mountainscenery in the world,offering an abundanceof birdsin a varietyof habitats. Target specieswill includethe White-tailedPtarmigan, Three-toed Woodpecker, and Brown-cappedRosy Finch. Also expected are the Red-naped and WilliamsoWs Sapsuckers,American Pipit, Hammond's,Dusky, Willow, and Olive-sidedFlycatch- ers,Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Pine Grosbeak Cassin's Finch, and American Dipper. Other possibilitiesinclude the NorthernGoshawk, Blue Grouse,and BorealOwl. Pawnee National Grassland: Thispicturesque short-grass prairie of northeast- ern Coloradois favoredby many,not onlyfor the specialbreeding birds found there, but alsobecause eastern vagrants are oftendiscovered in the isolatedwooded areas and water sources. We should see the Mountain Plover, Chestnut-collaredand McCown'sLongspurs, and possiblyLong-billed Curlew. Also to be foundare the Brown Thrasher,Lark Bunting,Brewer's, Vesper, Cassin's, and GrasshopperSpar- rows,and Easternand WesternKingbirds.