Table Of Content

' Wilson Bulletin I I7(2):2()6-209, 2005 Ornithological Literature Edited by Mary Gustafson SAN DIEGO COUNTY BIRD ATLAS. By a legacy of active ornithological field work Philip Unitt. Proceedings of the San Diego and birding activity. San Diego County lies at Natural History Museum No. 39, Ibis Pub- the heart ofthe southern halfofthe California lishing, Temecula, California. 2005: 645 + vi Floristic Province and has become—a key area pp., 468 color photos, several hundred maps for bird conservation issues since a—s the au- and figures, 9 tables, 3 appendices. ISBN: thor points out on the very first page its hu- 0934797218, $80.00 (cloth).—Let this review man population (approaching 3 million) con- begin with the only flaw I could find while tinues to increase at third-world rates while devouring a publication that may well be the consuming resources at first-world rates. most important book about California birds San Diego County stretches from the Pa- since Grinnell and Miller’s 1944 standard- cific Coast eastward over coastal hills and the m bearer, The Distribution ofthe Birds of Cali- Peninsular Range (to 1,990 elevation), then fornia (Pacific Coast Avifauna No. 27). The down into the Colorado Desert. Its diminish- flaw is, simply, that its title '"San Diego Coun- ing coastal sage scrub was the subject of the ty Bird Atlas' understates the vast contribu- landmark work of Soule et al. (Reconstructed tions ofthis effort by Unitt, several other con- dynamics of rapid extinctions of chaparral-re- tributing writers, and over400 volunteers. The quiring birds in urban habitat islands. Conser- title might suggest that this is merely another vation Biology 2:75-92, 1988) on habitat in a worthy line of the Golden State’s county- fragmentation, and its chaparral and oak-co- level breeding bird atlases that includes W. D. nifer woodlands are subjected to great pertur- Shuford’s The Marin County Breeding Bird bations (some 1,715 km^ of these habitats Atlas: A Distributional History of Coastal burned in 2002 and 2003, shortly after the California Birds (California Avifauna Series completion of atlas field work). The county is 1, Bushtit Books, Bolinas, California, 1993) home to a massive Marine Corps base (Camp and D. Roberson and C. Tenney’s Atlas ofthe Pendleton), Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Breeding Birds ofMonterey County, Califor- (2,427 km^), and considerable National Forest nia (Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, and state park land in the mountains; there is Carmel, California, 1993). However, in addi- a huge Navy presence in San Diego Bay, as tion to being a thorough breeding bird atlas, well. Rapidly expanding suburban develop- San Diego County Bird Atlas also reports the ment continues in concert with important, al- results of a detailed winter atlas scheme and, beit imperfect, habitat conservation planning. furthermore, is an expanded reworking of the San Diego County is thus a robust microcosm author’s earlier publication. The Birds ofSan of California and the entire nation. Diego County (San Diego Society of Natural This attractive and richly illustrated book History, Memoir 13, 1984). The Atlas thus begins with a detailed methodology chapter treats all species, including transients and va- explaining the field work conducted from grants. It is also the most detailed and critical March 1997 to February 2002. The atlas grid treatment of subspecies of southern Califor- is based on township/range/section boundar- nia’s birds in decades. The parochial title is ies, with the 479 cells averaging about 23 an understatement, as well; although San Di- km^; this is a bit at odds with other California ego County may be geographically tucked atlas efforts, but such grid differences are triv- into the far southwest cor—ner of the United ial for biogeographical analysis. After a five States, it boasts a bird l—ist 493 species plus page summary of important results and a re- 87 additional subspecies that is exceeded by view of the species account format, the Atlas no other county (or any region of comparable provides a concise summary ofavian habitats, area) in the nation. This lofty total is a func- conservation issues, and impacts of wildfire. tion of habitat and topographic diversity and The species accounts form the bulk ofthe text. 206 ORNITHOLOGICAL LITERATURE 207 with account lengths varying from a couple of As if the sheer amount of useful informa- paragraphs for vagrants to two to three pages tion in this book weren’t enough, the author’s for most breeding species. Maps illustrate prose is highly readable and at times strays geographical distribution of the breeding refreshingly from stiff, scientific style. His range, with abundance and certainty ofbreed- nearly 20 years at the editorial helm of the ing confirmation coded by differing intensities journal. Western Birds, have clearly served of green and hatching in each atlas cell. For him (and us) well. Praise for the author, how- wintering species, or species whose breeding ever, should not minimize the labor, guidance, and wintering status differ greatly, an addi- and technical expertise of many others in- tional map shows winter distribution (based volved in the Atlas. Production values are on field work from December through Feb- high throughout, and any errors are surely ruary) with three shades of blue indicating minimal. This attractive production, however, abundance, based on individuals encountered does carry a rather stiff price, and one can’t per hour. Additional cells in which only mi- help but think that a version without color on grants were recorded are shaded in gray; for virtually every page might have come in at some breeding species, former (pre-1997) half the price and encouraged wider distribu- breeding cells are colored red. Breeding spe- tion. The bottom line, though, is that I rec- cies merit an additional graphic that portrays ommend saving your pers—onal and institution- nesting phenology. al pennies for this book it’s worth it. All Exotic species (including a growing resi- birders and field ornithologists within hun- dent population of Black-throated Magpie- dreds of miles of San Diego County should Jays, Calocitta colliei) and hypothetical spe- have a copy. Those who are more geograph- cies are treated briefly in a section subsequent ically estranged from San Diego will still find to the main species accounts. There follows great value in this work as a model atlas and appendices listing all avian taxa recorded in regional treatment—of status, ecology, and geo- San Diego County (most are documented by graphic variation. KIMBALL L. GARRETT, specimens in the San Diego Natural History Natural History Museum of Los Angeles Museum) and the scientific names of plants County, Los Angeles, California; e-mail: mentioned in the text. A third appendix pro- [email protected] vides locality data (and sometimes date) for the hundreds of color photographs; roughly half of the photos were taken in San Diego County. Among the many strengths of the species CURASSOWS AND RELATED BIRDS. accounts are the thoughtful Conservation sec- By Jean Delacour and Dean Amadon, with an tions provided for most species; population updated chapter by Josep del Hoyo and Anna and range changes are discussed here in detail. Motis. Illustrated by Albert E. Gilbert. Lynx Declines are many, but a surprising suite of Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. 2004: 476 pp., 52 species has adapted to urban and suburban black-and-white maps and figures, 56 color habitats and expanded accordingly; these in- plates, 6 dichotomous —keys. ISBN: clude the Red-shouldered {Buleo luieatus) and 8487334644. $75.00 (cloth). This book is a Cooper’s hawks {Accipiter coopcrii), Nuttall’s revision of one published approximately 30 Woodpecker U^icoides niittallii). Pacific-slope years ago, also by Jean Delacour and Dean Flycatcher {EtupUlonax (lifficilis). Western Amadou, fhe original was an elegant book Bluebird (Sicilia mexicana), and Dark-eyed about a cr—yptic and little known group oftrop- Junco (Jimco hycniaUs). Also excellent are the ical birds the Cracids. Delacour and Ama- critical analyses ofsubspecies occurring in the don published in that book every bit of infor- county; Unitt excels at a sensible and modern mation they came across, from notes scribbled application of the subspecies concept, reject- by zoo curators to recortls of habitat, voice, ing ill-supported taxa but championing ami other important asjK'cts of natural history “good" subspecies as illuminating ecological scrawled during brief research trips to the na- adaptations, endemism, and seasonal popula- tive haunts of ('racids. When they wrote the tion movements. book, they probably had no idea that they