Nevada bird book proves scholarly

Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Nevada
By Ted Floyd, Chris Elphick, Graham Chisholm, Kevin Mack, Robert Elston, Elisabeth Ammon and John Boone.
University of Nevada Press. $60

This may be the ultimate coffee table book for dedicated Nevada birders, an encyclopedic volume describing the 275 species that breed in the state.
But it doesn’t read like an encyclopedia. Indeed, it is the most enjoyable scholarly work I have read since H.L. Mencken’s “The American Language.”
The “Atlas,” a project of the Great Basin Bird Observatory (GBBO), runs to 581 pages with appendix, bibliography and index. It is well illustrated by Ray Nelson.
The introductory paragraph to each species alone is worth the hefty price. Here is the intro to a bird known to all, the American robin: “its loud caroling is a sure sign of spring…nearly everyone with a lawn is acquainted with its entertaining routine of hunting and capturing earthworms.”
The “Atlas” cites distribution, habitats and sighting records. Locator maps pinpoints where the species have been found. Introductions to some of my favorite birds:
American avocet: “With its black and white body, orange head and neck, blue legs and oddly recurved bill, the avocet is one of our most stunning breeding shorebirds…its delicate beauty seems strangely out of place in the sinks, sewage ponds and stinking seeps that it calls home.”
Greater roadrunner: “Perhaps the most beloved bird in the American Southwest. This large, comical bird has an undeniable mystique…In the scrublands of southern Nevada the sighting of a roadrunner always elicits a smile.”
Common raven: “In many cultures the common raven is considered a trickster and now there is scientific evidence to prove it!...ravens have been observed peeling identification labels off toxic waste drums, pecking holes in airplane wings and stealing golf balls…ravens reflect in many ways the human spirit in Nevada: bold, quirky, resourceful, desert-loving and rugged.”
(Bird lovers are urged to read “Ravens in Winter” [1989] by biologist Bernd Heinrich. He describes ravens as “the most intelligent bird in the world” and suggests that ravens are “socialists” for their food- sharing. Birders might also reread Poe’s alliterative immortalization of “The Raven.” Oh, and the Latin name, Corvus corax, comes from the Greek word, korax, croaker.)
Northern mockingbird: “The repertoire of an individual mockingbird easily may exceed a hundred song elements, each a near-perfect transcription of the song or call of another species…it is (also) interesting for…its vigorous defense against all comers.”
American dipper: “Dippers are among the most popular birds in the Western United States. Their unique use of rocky streams and dare-devilish underwater foraging antics can be observed all year long and they are not shy about displaying their considerable vocal talents.”
Black-billed magpie: “strikingly plumaged and improbably proportioned, talkative and highly sociable.”
Mountain bluebird: “Nevada’s state bird is a thing of beauty--washed all over in azure as if a bit of sky had fallen to earth.”
Cedar waxwing: “Equal parts garish and exquisite, striking and delicate…destined to capture the attention of artists and creators of porcelain figures. Waxwings are known to most Nevadans as flocking itinerants at…junipers and Russian olives.”
One ominous note. Richard Tracy, University of Nevada, Reno biologist, writes in a foreward: “When Walker Lake no longer has fish (a likely outcome within the next decade), there will be no loon festival in…Hawthorne…(and) American white pelicans will not travel there from Anaho Island to feed.” (In an email, Tracy wrote that the lake water level “continues to drop at an alarming rate…It is enough to bring tears to think this jewel is dying.”)
“Atlas” authors: Floyd was project coordinator for the “Atlas” from 1999 to 2002; Elphick is a conservation biologist at the University of Connecticut; Chisholm co-founded the GBBO and was its first director; Mack of Reno worked on community conservation projects; Elston is cartographer for the Biological Resources Research Center at UNR; Ammon is bird monitoring coordinator and science director at GBBO; and Boone is an assistant research professor at UNR.
Of the 398 field workers listed, some star birders of northern Nevada: the late Jack Walters, David Worley (raptors), Alan Gubanich, Bob Goodman, Rose Strickland and Dennis Ghiglieri.
Other outstanding Nevada birders can be found on the bird alert Internet site with their sightings and queries: nvbirds@list.audubon.org. (No offense to southern Nevada birders and other good birdwatchers in northern Nevada. I just do not know them.)