The birds of Southeastern Utah

journal articleSoutheastern Utah is a rugged and colorful portion of the state. As a part of the Colorado Plateau Physiographic Province it is characterized by an arid climate, multicolored but mostly red sandstones, shales and limestones, weathered sand deep box canyons, and high, isolated, lacolithic mountain ranges. Despite the general aridity of the region there are several major rivers and streams. Thw Green and Colorado rivers converge southwest of Moab. Main tn butaries below this point are the Fremont, Escalante, and San Juan rivers. The latter drains extreme southeastern Utah

Birds of the Kanab area and adjacent high plateaus of Southern Utah

journal articleThe gateway to central southern Utah is the town of Kanab, located in Kane County just a few miles north of the Utah-Arizona line. At an elevation of 4973 feet it nestles in an indenture in the Vermillion Cliffs where Kanab Canyon emerges. North of these Vermillion Cliffs, rising like two additional great steps, are the White Cliffs and the Pink Cliffs. These lead to two tablelands, the Paunsagunt Plateau of the Bryce Canyon National Park area with its highest point 9105 feet, and to the west, the Markagunt Plateau of the Zion National Park-Cedar Breaks National Monument area. The latter in its higher northern portion is referred to locally as either Cedar Mountain or the Parowan Mountains

The birds of the Raft River Mountains, Northwestern Utah

journal articleAs another facet in a long-term analysis of the birds of Utah, an avifaunal survey was made in the northwestern corner of the state. Here the principal physiographic feature is the Raft River Mountains. The main axis of this range runs in an east-west direction paralleling the Utah-Idaho border immediately to the north. To the southwest lie the lower and less prominent Grouse Creek Mountains and in the extreme northwest corner of the state there is another, smaller range, the Goose Creek Mountains. The Grouse Creek Mountains run in a north-south direction, while the main portion of the Goose Creek Range runs essentially northeast and southwest and then tails off to the south along the Utah-Nevada border. Just west of the Grouse Creek Mountains is Grouse Creek Valley, which runs north and south in Utah parallel to the Utah-Nevada border. While nearly all parts of the region were visited, the Raft River Mountains received most of the attention, especially the north slope in the vicinity of the towns of Yost, Standrod, and Nafton

Birds of pine valley mountain region, Southwestern Utah

journal articleIt has long been a practice among ornithologists to study the distribution, variation, and ecological relationships of birds in areas characterized by diverse physiographic features. Such studies are motivated usually by the desire to aid in finding solutions for the many problems concerning the distribution and variation of birds. Following this custom and with this objective in mind, the writer has attempted to make a contribution to our knowledge of the birds 0f western North America in general and those of Utah in particular by selecting the highly diversified southwestern part of the state for an avifaunistic study. The area chosen includes the Pine Valley Mountains, the Beaver Dam Mountains, the Beaver Dam Wash and the valleys of the Santa Clara and Virgin rivers. As such it corresponds essentially with the limits of Washington County, Utah

The birds of the deep Creek Mountains of Central Western Utah

journal articleIn furtherance of a long-time survey of the avifauna of Utah the Deep Creek Mountain region of the central western part of the state was chosen as an area for intensive study. It was expected that gradients would occur in the characters of geographically variable birds between populations from the isolated ranges of the Great Basin and birds from the Wasatch Mountains to the northeast, those mountains that form the abrupt eastern margin of the Great Basin or the high plateaus of central and southern Utah. The Deep Creek region seemed most propitious fo r collecting a representation of the Great Basin races. While the analysis of the geographical variation was the main objective of the study and large series o f the variable birds were desired, in accord with the general practice of making avifaunistic studies of particular regions, samples o f other birds were taken when possible, and a study was made of the ecology of the birds of the region. Although the emphasis was on collecting, attention was paid to abundance, behavior, and life history features, as opportunity was afforded. Working out the details of the variation throughout Utah must await the accumulation o f additional material from many other locations, but in the meantime the results of the Deep Creek Mountain survey may well be placed on record to reveal the nature of the avifauna of this portion of Utah

The embryonic development of the California Gull

journal articleThe California gull (Larus califomicus) is a summer resident in Utah nesting commonly on certain islands in Great Salt Lake as well as at man-made refuges on the east side of the lake. Many aspects of the biology of the species have been investigated (Beck, 1942; Behle, 1958; Behle and Goates, 1957; Behle and Woodbury, 1952; Greenhalgh, 1952; Johnston, 1956; Odin, 1957; Woodbury, Behle and Sugden, 1946) and it seemed that an opportunity was presented to study yet another feature, namely, the early embryonic development. This conviction was strengthened when it was noted in Romanoff's (1960) extensive work on the avian embryo that whereas there is mention of embryological studies on some species of gulls of the genus Larus, the California gull was not included. Furthermore, no study of the gross external anatomy of any gull seemed to have been made; rather the studies had been histological investigations of the internal anatomy

IN MEMORIAM: SEVILLE FLOWERS (1900-1968)

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