Recent Bird Records from the Guadalupe Mountains, Texas

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New, or verification of old, records for seventeen species of birds occurring in the southern Guadalupe Mountains, Culberson Co., Texas, are reported. Specimens of Caprimulgus vociferus, Eugenes fulgens, Sayornis nigricans, Nucifraga columbiana, Catharus ustulatus, Vireo olivaceus, Dendroica pensylvanica, and Icterus cucullatus, were collected and represent the first specimen records of these species for the Guadalupe Mountain region of Culberson Co. Sightings and specimen records indicate that Buteo albonotatus, Falco peregrinus, Actitis macularia, Eugenes fulgens, Sphyrapicus varius, Empidonax oberholseri, Vermivora virginiae, Icterus cucullatus, and Loxia curvirostra breed, or are potential breeders, in the area under consideration. The southern Guadalupe Mountains, part of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, are located in Trans-Pecos Texas approximately 100 mi E of El Paso and about 40 mi SW of Carlsbad, New Mexico (Fig. 1). The New Mexico state line forms the northern boundary of the national park. A part of this northern boundary is contiguous with Lincoln National Forest. The better known (biologically) Davis and Chisos Mountains are located 100 and 200 miles, respectively, to the southeast of the Guadalupe Mountains. The first recorded work on birds in the southern Guadalupe Mountains was that of Vernon Bailey in 1901 (Bailey, 1905). In 1938 and 1939 Thomas D. Burleigh and George H. Lowery, Jr., collected specimens in the Guadalupe Mountains (Burleigh and Lowery, 1940). W. B. Davis, along with several students, also recorded Guadalupe bird life during the late 1930's and early 1940's (Biaggi, 1942). The vegetation of the Guadalupe Escarpment was analyzed by F. R. Gehlbach (1967). Fred and Nancy Gehlbach surveyed breeding birds in the Guadalupes during their field investigations in the late 1950's and 1960's. 1 Present address, Dept. of Biology, Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas 79601.