Part 3

TABLE 4.--ANALYSIS BY HABITAT-TYPE AND RESIDENCY STATUS OF HISTORIC AVIAN STOCKS IN KANSAS

Column Headings: A: Woodland E: Unanal. Hab. B: Limnic F: Migrant C: Grassland G: Resident D: Xeric Scrub H: Partly Migrant

=======================+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+===== | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H -----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- Old World Element | 80% | 0 | 8% | 0 | 12% | 11% | 78% | 11% 27:16% | | | | | | | | North American Element | 69% | 6% | 17% | 4% | 4% | 72% | 14% | 14% 77:44% | | | | | | | | South American Element | 93% | 0 | 7% | 0 | 0 | 93% | 7% | 0 15:8% | | | | | | | | Unanalyzed Origin | 22% | 56% | 13% | 0 | 9% | 79% | 16% | 5% 53:32% | | | | | | | | -----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

Xeric-Scrub Habitats

Three species of Kansan birds can be placed in this category (Table 1). This is less than one per cent of the North American avifauna, two per cent of the Kansan avifauna, and ten per cent of the birds of xeric scrub habitats in North America. The three species are considered to be of North American origin.

Unanalyzed as to Habitat

Eleven species of Kansan birds could not be assigned to any of the habitat-types mentioned above. The total represents two per cent of the North American avifauna, six per cent of the birds of Kansas, and 55 per cent of the species reckoned by Udvardy (loc. cit.) to be unanalyzable. Fifty-five per cent is a large fraction, but only to be expected: species are considered unanalyzable if they show a broad, indiscriminate use of more than one habitat-type, and such birds tend to be widely distributed.

TABLE 5.--ANALYSIS BY ECOLOGIC STATUS AND AREA OF ORIGIN OF MIGRANT AND RESIDENT BIRDS

Column headings: A: Woodland F: Old World B: Limnic G: North America C: Grassland H: South America D: Xeric Scrub I: Unanalyzed E: Unanal. Hab.

=================+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+===== | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I -----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- Migrant species | 52% | 29% | 12% | 1% | 6% | 2% | 49% | 12% | 37% 117:67% | | | | | | | | | Resident species | 73% | 0 | 15% | 5% | 7% | 51% | 26% | 2% | 21% 40:23% | | | | | | | | | Partly migrant | 64% | 11% | 17% | 0 | 6% | 17% | 66% | 0 | 17% 17:10% | | | | | | | | | -----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

Species Reaching Distributional Limits in Kansas

The distributional limits of a species are useful in indicating certain of its adaptive capacities and implying maintenance of or shifts in characteristics of habitats. Although it is generally an oversimplification to ignore abundance when treating of distribution, the present remarks of necessity do not pertain to abundance.

TABLE 6.--BREEDING BIRDS REACHING DISTRIBUTIONAL LIMITS IN KANSAS

Species reaching northern distributional limits

Florida caerulea Geococcyx californianus Leucophoyx thula Caprimulgus carolinensis Coragyps atratus Muscivora forficata Elanoides forficatus Parus carolinensis Ictinia misisippiensis Vireo atricapillus Tympanuchus pallidicinctus Passerina ciris Callipepla squamata Aimophila cassinii

Species reaching southern distributional limits

Aythya americana Empidonax minimus Parus atricapillus Steganopus tricolor Bombycilla cedrorum Chlidonias niger Dolichonyx oryzivorus Coccyzus erythropthalmus Pedioecetes phasianellus

Species reaching eastern distributional limits

Eupoda montana Corvus cryptoleucus Numenius americanus Salpinctes obsoletus Phalaenoptilus nuttallii Icterus bullockii Colaptes cafer Pheucticus melanocephalus Tyrannus verticalis Passerina amoena Sayornis saya

Species reaching western distributional limits

Aix sponsa Vireo griseus Buteo platypterus V. flavifrons Philohela minor Mniotilta varia Ectopistes migratorius Protonotaria citrea Conuropsis carolinensis Parula americana Chaetura pelagica Dendroica discolor Archilochus colubris Seiurus motacilla Dryocopus pileatus Oporornis formosus Centurus carolinus Wilsonia citrina Myiarchus crinitus Setophaga ruticilla Empidonax virescens Sturnella magna E. traillii Piranga olivacea Parus bicolor Pheucticus ludovicianus Thryothorus ludovicianus Pipilo erythrophthalmus Cistothorus platensis Passerherbulus henslowii Hylocichla mustelina

Western Limits Reached in Kansas

Thirty-one species (tables 6 and 7) reach the western limits of their distribution somewhere in Kansas. Most of these limits are in eastern Kansas, and coincide with the gradual disappearance of the eastern deciduous forest formation. Twenty-nine species are woodland birds, and few of these seem to find satisfactory conditions in the riparian woods extending out through western Kansas. The Wood Thrush is the one woodland species that has been found nesting in the west (Decatur County; Wolfe, 1961). Descriptively, therefore, the dominant reason for the existence of distributional limits in at least 28 of these birds is the lack of suitable woodland in western Kansas; these 28 are the largest single group reaching distributional limits in the State. Many other eastern woodland birds occur in western Kansas along riparian woodlands, as is mentioned below.

Two species showing western limits in Kansas are characteristic of grassland habitats; the Eastern Meadowlark seems to disappear with absence of moist or bottomland prairie grassland and the Henslow Sparrow may be limited westerly by disappearance of tall-grass prairie.

The Short-billed Marsh Wren, a marginal limnic species, reaches its southwesterly mid-continental breeding limits in northeastern Kansas. The species breeds in Kansas in two or three years of each ten, in summers having unusually high humidity.

Northern Limits Reached in Kansas

Fourteen species (tables 6 and 7) reach their northern distributional limits in Kansas. Eight of these are birds of woodland habitats, but of these only the Carolina Chickadee is a species of the eastern deciduous woodlands; the other seven live in less mesic woodland. Three of these species (Chuck-will's-Widow, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Painted Bunting) have breeding ranges that suggest the northwesterly occurrences of summer humid warm air masses ("gulf fronts") and this environmental feature perhaps is of major importance for these birds, as it is also for the vegetational substratum in which the birds live.

The Lesser Prairie Chicken and the Cassin Sparrow are the two birds of grasslands that are limited northerly in Kansas. Xeric, sandy grassland is chiefly limited to the southwestern quarter of Kansas, and this limitation is perhaps of major significance to these two species. The Scaled Quail and Roadrunner tend to drop out as the xeric "desert scrub" conditions of the southwest drop out in Kansas.