Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1968 A Preliminary Survey of the Avifauna of the Mexican State of Oaxaca. (Volumes 1 and 2). Laurence Charles Binford Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Binford, Laurence Charles, "A Preliminary Survey of the Avifauna of the Mexican State of Oaxaca. (Volumes 1 and 2)." (1968). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 1468. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/1468 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 69-4451 BINFORD, Laurence Charles, 1935- A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF THE AVIFAUNA OF THE MEXICAN STATE OF OAXACA. (VOLUMES 1 AND 2). Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1968 Zoology University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF THE AVIFAUNA OF THE MEXICAN STATE OF OAXACA Volume 1 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Zoology and Physiology by Laurence Charles Binford B.S., University of Michigan, 1957 August, 1968 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS No work of this nature could be completed satisfactorily without the assistance of a large number of people. To the many friends who have aided in this venture, I wish to express my sincerest appreciation. During the course of my research, I made three field expeditions to México, each lasting four to five months. On the first trip, I was ably assisted by Larry L. Wolf, on the second by Delwyn G. Berrett and Franklin M. Berrett, and on the third by John J. Morony. The aid and cooperation provided by these people not only greatly increased the proficiency of the expeditions in the procurement and prepara­ tion of specimens but made the rigorous field work far more enjoyable. Special thanks are due to Profesor Jordi Julia Z., of the Laboratorio de Entomologie, Comisién del Papaloapan, whose unselfish expenditure of time and effort made possible the establishment of collecting stations near Valle Nacional and at Temascal. The assistance of Thomas MacDougall was indispensible in arranging the pack trip into the cloud forests of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and his efforts to procure data on the Wild Turkey in Oaxaca are much appreciated. Mr. and Mrs. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Roy H. Jones, whose beautiful Oaxaca Courts provided days of respite from the rigors of field work, were particularly helpful in obtaining supplies and making space for storage of specimens. Financial assistance was received from a variety of sources. The Department of Zoology of Louisiana State Uni­ versity provided special funds for one of the field expedi­ tions, and research assistantships were made available for myself and my field companions through the Louisiana State University Museum of Zoology. Research at Louisiana State University and at various museums around the United States was supported in part by one Cooperative Graduate Fellowship and two Summer Fellowships from the National Science Founda­ tion. Research at the American Museum of Natural History was made possible through a grant from the Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund. Numerous people have unselfishly supplied me with original unpublished notes on the birds of Oaxaca. Charles G. Sibley and Lester L. Short, Jr., made available the notes taken at La Cumbre by themselves and J. B. Bowers, H. E. Childs, R. H. Long, and P. C. Sibley. Other persons to whom I am greatly indebted for the use of their notes are William B. Davis, Robert W. Dickerman, Ernest P. Edwards, Richard R. and Jean Graber, John Hubbard, Philip R. Lenna, Frederick W. Loetscher, William B. Robertson, and A. W. Schorger. My heartfelt thanks are especially due to Philip S. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Humphrey, whose instruction, advice, encouragement, and material favors down through the years have, in very large measure, made possible the realization of a dream, of which my work in Oaxaca was a part. Allan R. Phillips has been especially helpful, not only by allowing free access to his collection but also by spending many hours on my behalf providing data on specimens, localities, and taxonomic problems. I have also benefited greatly from long discussions with Burt L. Monroe, Jr. For the loan of specimens, free access to collections, cooperation, and assistance, I am greatly indebted to a number of individuals and their associated institutions. Special thanks are extended to the following:' Ned K. Johnson, Frank A. Pitelka, and the late Alden H. Miller, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley; Thomas R. Howell and 0. M. Buchanan, Jr., University of California at Los Angeles; John W. Hardy, Robert T. Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental College; Robert M. Mengel and Richard F . Johnson, Museum of Zoology, University of Kansas; Austin L. Rand, Emmet R. Blake, and Melvin A. Traylor, Field Museum of Natural History; Dean Amadon, Eugene Eisenmann, Wesley E. Lanyon, Charles E. O'Brien, and Charles T. Collins, American Museum of Natural History; Raymond A. Paynter, Jr., Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Univer­ sity; Alexander Wetmore, Richard L. Zusi, and John W. Aldrich, United States National Museum; Joe T. Marshall, Department iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of Zoology, University of Arizona; Kenneth E. Stager, Los Angeles County Museum; George M. Sutton, Stovall Museum, University of Oklahoma, Norman; Robert W. Storer, Harrison B. Tordoff, and Norman L. Ford, University of Michigan; Charles C. Sibley and Neal G. Smith, Cornell University; Ed N. Harrison and the late William J. Sheffler, Western Founda­ tion of Vertebrate Zoology, Los Angeles; Keith A. Arnold, Texas Cooperative Wildlife Museum, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University, College Station; and Donald F. Hoffmeister, University of Illinois Museum of Natural History. I would also like to express my great appreciation to the following: my advisor, George H. Lowery, Jr., whose unfailing support and encouragement has made this project possible; Robert J. Newman, who toiled many weeks in careful examination of the manuscript; and H. Bruce Boudreaux, Walter J. Harman, Douglas A. Rossman, and J. Harvey Roberts, the other members of my graduate committee, who also read the manuscript. V Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................... Ü LIST OF TABLES .............................. X Ü LIST OF FIGURES........................................... xiii ABSTRACT ............................................... xiv Volume 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................... 1 GENERAL PHYSIOGRAPHY .................................. 15 Physiographic Regions................................ 15 Mesa del S u r ............... 15 Atlantic coastal lowlands......................... 19 Pacific coastal lowlands ......................... 20 Isthmus of Tehuantepec ........................... 23 Sierra Madre de Chiapas....................... 25 Hydrography............... 27 CLIMATE................................................. 29 HABITATS ............... - ............................. 42 Extensive Terrestrial Habitats ..................... 52 Tropical evergreen forest......................... 52 Cloud forest ...................................... 58 Humid pine-oak forest.............................. 53 Arid pine-oak forest .............................. 68 VI Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PAGE Tropical semideciduous forest...................... 73 Tropical deciduous forest.......................... 75 Arid tropical scrub................. 79 Arid temperate scrub .............................. 85 S t e p p e .............................................. 89 Savanna.............................................. 91 Restricted Terrestrial Habitats...................... 95 Humid gallery forest .............................. 95 Palm forest......................................... 97 Fir f o r e s t ......................................... 98 Juniper scrub....................................... 99 Man-made Terrestrial Habitats........................ 100 F i n c a s ............................................... 102 G u a m i l ............................................... 103 Cultivated land....................................... 103 Grazed land......................................... 104 S t r u c t u r e s ......................................... 104 Open Aquatic Habitats...............................