Ecological and Distributional Relations of Desert Scrub Birds of Western Texas

Abstract

In the deserts of North America, as in other areas remote from centers of population, initial studies of the avifauna were directed principally along taxonomic and distributional lines. In recent years, interest in desert birds has broadened, and studies of breeding bird populations, life histories of individual species, and physiological ecology have been undertaken. The principal focus of the investigations reported here was determination of habitat preferences and population density of birds breeding in desert scrub vegetation in southern Brewster County, Texas, as a part of a long term study of community relations of vertebrates of the Big Bend area. Field work involved parts of four nesting seasons, 1955 to 1958 inclusive. Studies were conducted in the Big Bend National Park and on the Texas Game and Fish Commission's Black Gap Wildlife Management Area, lying east of Big Bend Park and 53 miles southeast of Marathon, since these areas were relatively undisturbed insofar as present economic exploitation is concerned. Taxonomic and distributional background is provided by the writings of Van Tyne and Sutton (1937) and Miller (1955).