 Joe
Morlan has long been one of the premier birders in California. Joe grew
up in the East but has been in the San Francisco Bay area since the late
1960s. He has lived on both sides of the Bay and has taught birdwatching
classes through the San Francisco adult school system since the 1970s.
He first appears in American Birds in winter 1972-73 (he is cited
for a half-dozen records) and rapidly became one of the best birders in
the Bay area as a protégé of Van Remsen. He was among those
who met weekly to work out identification as they reviewed specimens at
the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, where Van had evening access.
He quickly gained stature as one of the Bay Area's leading bird experts.
Joe was the voice of the Bay Area rare bird alert for many years, and
the machine was actually in his home long past the end of our period of
review. As he taught more and more classes on birds, at differing levels
of expertise, he became a mentor to an entire generation of new observers.
No other California birder has taught adult-level birding classes for so
long and so extensively. The classes include field trips, taking Joe and
his students throughout the Bay Area incessantly, and his knowledge of
Bay Area birds is perhaps unmatched. He is particularly active on Pt. Reyes,
but over the years has seriously birded the entire State. He served as
a Regional Editor for American Birds for 4 seasons in the 1970s.
Joe was first elected to the California Bird Records Committee (CBRC)
in 1981 and has been a constant presence on the Committee ever since, excepting
bylaw enforced absences after every two terms. In our period of review,
he served for 8 years. He has consistently been one of the most influential
CBRC members.
photo 20 June 1992 on a boat just off S.E. Farallon I.
© D. Roberson
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 Joe
has long been interested in the details of bird identification, and he
authored several papers on difficult topics. His discussion of White Wagtail
identification and its forms is a classic (Morlan 1981). Joe (with Dick
Erickson) undertook the problem of convincingly documenting the Pt. Reyes
skylark in a peer-reviewed journal (Morlan & Erickson 1983). Additional
i.d. papers are cited below. In the late 1980s he (along with Don Roberson)
took a series of CBRC submissions that proved to be first state records,
and turned them into publications available to all. Joe wrote the identification
portions of these papers (e.g., Stallcup et al. 1988, Trochet et al. 1988,
Daniels et al. 1989). He was invited to the 1986 international bird identification
meeting in Eilat, Israel, where he attended and presented a paper (see
Dunn et al. 1987).
His acknowledged expertise extends to the status and distribution of
birds in northern California. Joe and Dick Erickson revised the classic.bar
graph booklet on northern California in the late 1970s (McCaskie et al.
1979) and updated it again in the late '80s (McCaskie et al. 1988). The
latter remains in print and is still an excellent source of information
on the timing of occurrences and bird migration in the northern half of
the State.
Joe was one of the first to recognize the value of the internet in disseminating
bird
information. His website on California
Birding is consistently considered the best website for Statewide birding
information, rarity details and photos, and many other features. This latter
achievement, though, obviously occurred long after the close of our period
of review.
photo 18 Dec 1978 at Spaletta Ranch, Pt. Reyes MRN ©
D. Roberson
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Official Bird Name: Wood Stork
Ticky Token: Yes
Significant bird records during our period of review: Many birds of
local interests and vagrants; those of statewide importance include
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Streaked Shearwater 9 Oct 1977 Monterey Bay MTY — 2nd CA record
[co-finder]
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Streaked Shearwater 26 Sep 1982 Monterey Bay MTY — 4th CA record
[co-finder]
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Wood Thrush 21 Dec 1983 Golden Gate Park S.F. — 7th CA record,
first to winter in the State
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Common Grackle 22 May 1979 Scotty's Castle INY — 8th CA record
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Scarlet Tanager 20 June 1982 Pt. Reyes MRN — 10th n. CA record,
one of very few alternate males
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Selected publications 1981-1989:
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Morlan, J. 1978. Finding rarities at Point Reyes, California. Birding 10:
9-12.
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Morlan, J. 1981. Status and identification of forms of White Wagtail in
western North America. Continental Birdlife 2: 37-50.
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Morlan, J. 1983. Identification quiz. West. Birds 14: 55-56.
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Morlan, J., and Erickson, R. A. 1983. A Eurasian Skylark at Point Reyes,
California, with notes on skylark identification and systematics. West.
Birds 14:113-126.
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Morlan, J. 1985. Eighth report of the California Bird Records Committee.
West. Birds 16:105-122.
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Morlan, J. 1986a. ID Point: Sage and Bendire's thrashers. Birding 18:328-329.
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Morlan, J. 1986b. The 86th Christmas Bird Count: Regional summaries — California.
Amer. Birds 40:1061-1067.
Selected publications 1981-1990 as co-author:
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Roberson, D., Morlan, J., and Small, A. 1977. A Streaked Shearwater in
California. Amer. Birds 31: 1097-1098.
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McCaskie, G., DeBenedictis, P., Erickson, R., and Morlan, J. 1979. Birds
of Northern California: An Annotated Field List, 2d ed. Golden Gate Audubon
Soc., San Francisco.
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McCaskie, G., DeBenedictis, P., Erickson, R., and Morlan, J. 1988. Birds
of Northern California: An Annotated Field List, 2d ed., reprinted with
Supplement. Golden Gate Audubon Soc., San Francisco.
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Lehman, P. and Morlan, J. 1987. The 88th Christmas Bird Count: Regional
summaries — California. Amer. Birds 42: 559-562.
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Dunn, J.L., Morlan, J. and Wilds, C.P. 1987. Field identification of forms
of Lesser Golden-Plover. Proc. 4th Intern. Identification Meeting Eilat
1st-8th November 1986.
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Stallcup, R., Morlan, J., and Roberson, D. 1988. First record of the Wedge-tailed
Shearwater in California. West. Birds 19:61-68.
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Trochet, J., Morlan, J., and Roberson, D. 1988. First record of the Three-toed
Woodpecker in California. West. Birds 19:109-115.
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Daniels, B. E., Hays, L., Hays, D., Morlan, J., and Roberson, D. 1989.
First record of the Common Black-Hawk for California. West. Birds 20:11-18.
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Erickson, R. A., Morlan, J., and Roberson, D. 1989. First record of the
White-collared Swift in California. West. Birds 20:25-31.
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Gordon, P., Morlan, J., and Roberson, D. 1989. First record of the White-winged
Crossbill in California. West. Birds 20:81-87.
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McLaren, I. A., Morlan, J., Smith, P.W., Gosselin, M., and Bailey, S.F.
1989. Eurasian Siskins in North America - distinguishing females from green
morph Pine Siskins. Amer. Birds 43:1268-1274.
Selected publications since 1989:
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Morlan, J. 1991. Identification of female Rose-breasted and Black-headed
Grosbeaks. Birding 23: 220-223.
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Morlan, J. 1994. Light-mantled Sooty Albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata)
over Cordell Bank, Marin County, California. Australian Seabird Group Newsletter
27:5-8.
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Morlan, J. 1996. In praise of listing. Birding 28: 362.
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Morlan, J., Dakin, R.E., and Rosso, J. 2004. Featured Photo: Apparent hybrids
between the American Avocet and Black-necked Stilt in California. West.
Birds 35:57-59.
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Webster, R. E., Morlan, J., and Roberson, D. 1990. First record of the
Sooty Tern in California. West. Birds 21:25-32.
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Fisher, C.C., and Morlan, J. 1996. Birds of San Francisco and the Bay Area.
Lone Pine Publ., Renton, WA.
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Patten, M. A., G. McCaskie, and J. Morlan. 1999. First record of the American
Woodcock for California, with a summary of its status in Western North
America. West. Birds 30:156-166.
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Rottenborn, S. C. and Morlan, J. 2000. Report of the California Bird Records
Committee: 1977 Records. West. Birds 31:1-37.
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