Notes from Maricopa County, Arizona
Notes from Maricopa County, Arizona
During the period between January 31 and February 9, 1936, the writer, with three student assistants, S. G. Harter, Philip Lichty and Norris Bloomiield, collected birds and mammals for the San Diego Society of Natural History from a base camp 10 miles south of Gila Bend, Maricopa County, Arizona. Among the birds taken were a few worthy of mention, either for the locality or their occurrence at this season.
Green-tailed Towhees (Oberholseria chlorura) were particularly abundant and many were seen all during our stay. A single Woodhouse Jay (Aphelocomu californica woodhouseii) was seen and shot at by the writer on February 1; and two specimens of Chestnut-backed Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana bairdi) were taken from a small flock that was found ranging over the desert plains on February 8. Both the Leconte Thrasher (Tozostoma Zecontei Zecontei) and Crissal Thrasher (Toxostomu dorsale dorsale) were singing; a female of the former species that was collected showed signs of incubating. A single Myrtle Warbler (Dendroica coroneta hooveri) was secured on February 8, and of two specimens of white-crowned sparrows collected, one was Zonotrichia kmophrys gambelii and the other Zonotrichia Zezuophrys Zeucophrys; taken on February 1 and 2, respectively. A pair of Canyon Towhees (Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus) was found, which, both from their behavior and from dissection, were apparently settled for the breeding season.
A small fresh water mollusk (Succinea) was found in the rump feathers of a Western Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus confinis) collected on February 4, and was the first example of molluscan “hitch hiking” via the avian trail that the writer had ever seen.
Laurence M. Huey
San Diego Society of Natural History, Balboa Park, San Diego, California, March 11, 1936
