NESTING OF THE PHAINOPEPLA ON SANTA CRUZ ISLAND, CALIFORNIA

Abstract

The Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens) is reported to breed on only one island off the coast of southern California: Santa Catalina (Diamond and Jones 1980). Recently, however, I discovered Phainopeplas nesting on Santa Cruz Island, over 100 km away.

This discovery shows that the insular breeding distribution of this erratic species is more extensive than previously thought.