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Unusual Occurrences of Bendire Thrasher, Forked-tailed Petrel and Western Goshawk

Frank Stephens

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In his Distributional List of the Birds of California, under Bendire Thrasher (Toxostoma bendirei) Dr. Grinnell says “no verification” of the Palm Springs record is now to be obtained. The specimen upon which this record was based is now no. 1507 in the collection of the San Diego Natural History Museum. It was taken April 8, 1885.

On December 23, 1918, as I was walking along the beach at Ocean Beach, California, looking among the drift marking the high tide line for dead fulmars, which occasionally wash ashore there, I found a Forked-tailed Petrel (Oceanodroma furcata). The place was within the city limits of San Diego. I believe this is the southernmost record for this species up to this time. The skin is no. 2031 of the Natural History Museum. As this was the first specimen of this species that I had handled I looked it up rather carefully. In reading Ridgway’s description in his Manual of North American Birds I find that he divides the family into two subfamilies, Procellariinae with 13 secondaries, in which he places the genus Oceanodroma; and Oceanitinae with 10 secondaries. My furcata has but ten secondaries in each wing. The bird was in poor condition, but the flight feathers seem to be all there. Our O. melania and O. socorroensis appear to have 13 secondaries. Someone having the opportunity to examine fresh specimens of furcata should count the secondaries.

A Western Goshawk (Astur atricapillus striatulus) was shot by Rudolph Wueste at the Lower Otay Reservoir (about five miles north of the Lower California line) on November 9, 1916. It is now in the collection of the Natural History Museum of San Diego.

Natural History Yuseum, Nan Diego, California, January 18, 1919

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