Additional records of birds from cavern deposits in New Mexico

Publication Type:

Journal Article

Authors:

Wetmore, Alexander

Source:

Condor, Cooper Ornithological Club, Volume 34, Issue 3, p.141-142 (1932)

Call Number:

A32WET01IDUS

URL:

https://sora.unm.edu/node/97935

Keywords:

Mountain Quail, Oreortyx pictus

Abstract:

As a result of further archeological investigation in New Mexico, Mr. Edgar B. Howard of the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, has submitted bones of birds for identification from the same cavern that last year yielded remains of the California Condor (see Condor, XXXIII, 1931, pp. 76-77). The cave in question is located about fifty miles west and somewhat north of Carlsbad, New Mexico, in the upper part of Rocky Arroyo, which comes out of the Guadeloupe Mountains. The bird remains, according to notes supplied by Mr. Howard, were found at levels from two and one-half to eight feet below the surface, associated in part with human materials of the Basket-maker group, and in part obtained at deeper levels where man-made artifacts are lacking. Bird bones occurred below those of any other vertebrates. Of particular interest in the collection are further fragmentary remains of the California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus), including a premaxilla of very large size, parts of two ulnae, and a bit of a sacrum. In the present collection there is the coracoid of a Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) that marks an extension of range for that species, since in modern times this bird has been recorded only west to western Texas, and has not been found in New Mexico. The Plumed Quail (Oreortyx picta) is represented by one entire, and one broken, metatarsus, a coracoid, and a tibia-tarsus, all in excellent condition. This is another species not known previously from New Mexico, as it ranges now from Washington and western Nevada through California into Lower California. In addition to the species mentioned, the deposits contain remains of the Lesser Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), Cooper Hawk (Accipiter cooperi), Swainson Hawk (Buteo swainsoni), Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus), Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) a Flicker (Colaptes sp.), and the Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus). The Turkey Vulture, represented by the distal half of a humerus, has the size of Cathartes aura septentrionalis.