Fewer Golden-Crowned Sparrows at Woodacre Station This Winter (1937-38)
Fewer Golden-crowned Sparrows at Woodacre Station this Winter (1937-38)
The Golden-crowned Sparrows (Zonotriclsia coronata) appeared at my banding station near Woodacre, Marin County, California, in lesser numbers this fall and winter than has been the case since the station was established, in 1928. Instead of several hundred of them wearing new bands only 87 have been banded so far this season. On the other hand there have been relatively more returns than in any previous season. Of these latter the year of banding and the number of returns were as follows: 1930,l; 1931,l; 1932, 0; 1933,3 ; 1934,2 ; 1935, 5; 1936, 22; 1937 (spring), 3: a total of 37 individuals. (In bird banding a “return” follows an absence of at least six months.)
Of the above returns the outstanding record is that of one that was handed as an immature, with band number A176908, on October 20, 1930. This bird was found in a trap on November 25, 1931; on April 3, 1932; November 6, 1933; February 11, 1934; December 2, 1934; November 8, 1935; October 25, 1936; and on December 5, 1937. Each time it returned it repeated a few times and disappeared again.
Joseph Mailliard
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, February 6, 1938
