Birds of the Central Valley: Introducing a Publication Series Documenting the Central Valley’s Avian History and Modern Distributions

Have you ever wondered why there is so little published on the historic occurrences of birds in the Central Valley? Central Valley Birds (formerly the Central Valley Bird Club Bulletin) has made great strides to rectify this, but there are many questions remaining. Many limitations inhibit our ability to understand the historic birdlife in the Central Valley. The region as a whole was understudied by past ornithologists. Breeding ranges were extrapolated to the Central Valley without concrete evidence, in many instances based on proximity and similarity of habitats (Dawson 1923, Grinnell and Miller 1944). Because distribution maps were published from such authorities as Grinnell and Miller (1944), few questioned these range maps and did not realize that some were indeed extrapolations. It was still the best information at the time, and it was better to have these maps as a starting point from which to work. Modern studies cite these old references as authorities for historic accounts of birds to show changes or declines in special-status species and/or changes in distributions, which in some cases help perpetuate poorly substantiated ranges of Valley birds.