POINT PINOS OREGON JUNCO 1083 



concentration of the winter population in the northern coastal district 



of the State." 



Distribution 



Range. — Southeastern Alaska and British Columbia to central and 

 coastal California. 



Breeding range. — The northwestern Oregon junco breeds in coastal 

 districts of southeastern Alaska (Yakutat Bay, Dall Island, Ketchi- 

 kan) and British Columbia (Queen Charlotte Islands, Fort Simpson, 

 south to Calvert Island). 



Winter range. — Winters from southeastern Alaska (from Juneau) 

 south through coastal British Columbia (east to Okanagan Lake), 

 western Washington, and western Oregon to central California (Mon- 

 terey Comity); sparsely through coastal Cahfornia to northern Baja 

 California (Santa EulaUa) ; casually southeast to southern Idaho 

 (Nampa), Nevada (Carson City, Ruby Lake), central Colorado (Den- 

 ver), southern Arizona (Huachuca Mountains), and western New 

 Mexico (Fort Bayard). 



JUNCO OREGANUS PINOSUS Loomis 



Point Pinos Oregon Junco 

 Contributed by James H. Phelps, Jr. 



Habits 



The unique central coast of California from San Francisco south- 

 ward through Santa Cruz and Monterey, with its marked boreal cli- 

 matic influences, has a local race of the Oregon junco. L. M. Loomis 

 (1893), who described it, comments: "The fact that a Junco should 

 be found breeding at the sea level so far south in California is very 

 significant and in itself is enough to suggest the existence at least of a 

 local race." 



The region is characterized by moderate temperatures, frequent 

 fogs, high humidity, and high winds along the ocean shore and exposed 

 headlands. Grinnell and Linsdale (193G) note: "The concentration 

 of rain in the mid-winter months and its almost complete absence in 

 summer are major factors in the composition of the fauna and in the 

 seasonal behavior of the animals." Concerning the fog they add: 

 "At inland localities it contains so little moisture that objects moving 

 through it often remain dry, but at Point Lobos even stationary ob- 

 jects, the trees, bushes, grass and even the ground, are often dripping 

 wet." 



Loomis named the race for Point Pinos where he first saw his birds 

 and recognized that they were different. Conditions at Point Pinos 



