Phil
Unitt is an active southern California birder best known for two areas
of achievement: (1) for his work on the status and distribution of birds
in San Diego County, and (2) as the long-time editor of Western Birds,
the journal of Western Field Ornithologists. Phil is a native San Diegan,
attended San Diego State University, and has spent his entire professional
career in San Diego, where he is the collections manager of the birds and
mammals department of the San Diego Natural History Museum. Despite this
heavy emphasis within San Diego County, Phil birded widely in the southern
California desert oases in the mid-1970s, and he spent some time living
in the San Francisco area in the late '70s/early '80s.
His first major publication on San Diego County — the Birds of San
Diego County (Unitt 1984) — was highly acclaimed for its research,
its thorough coverage of status and distribution, and its emphasis on subspecific
variation within the county. A disciple of the late Allan Phillips and
Amadeo Rea, Phil also incorporated some novel taxonomic treatments. [Later,
long after our period of review had closed in 1989, and after Phillips'
death, Unitt and Rea would team together to name a California subspecies
of Brown Creeper for Alan Phillips; Certhia americana phillipsi; Unitt
& Rea 1997]. Also after our period of review here had closed, Phil
would lead the San Diego Breeding Bird Atlas project (1997-2002), the results
of which were published in a much revised new update on the status and
distribution of San Diego birds (Unitt 2004b). This Atlas not only includes
grid-based mapping of breeding birds, but similar efforts for wintering
species.
Phil's field work has led to several notable findings, including the
first California nest of Painted Redstart (Unitt 1974) and the fact that
Gray Vireos winter in San Diego County's unique elephant trees (Unitt 2000).
His interests extend beyond the San Diego borders; he co-authored the recent
major avifauna on the Salton Sea (Patten, McCaskie & Unitt 2002) and
has participated in over ten Baja California expeditions (e.g., Unitt et
al. 1995). He also regularly conducts surveys for endangered species, and
has especially worked with the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (e.g., Unitt
1987). In recent years his spectrometric studies have suggested new ways
to identify specimens within the difficult Empidonax traillii/alnorum
group.
Beyond his work in San Diego County, Phil has been the editor of Western
Birds since 1987. Beginning with that year's volume 18, Western
Birds has kept to the high standards set by the prior editor, Alan
Craig. Phil's tenure as editor continued through the end of our period
of review (1989) and remains to the present (2005), a run of 18 years and
counting.
Photo (above) Sep 1976, probably 11 Sep 1996 aboard a
boat from San Diego to San Clemente I. © Van Remsen
Photo (below) 29 May 1978, Mesquite Springs, Death Valley
INY © Brad Schram |
Significant bird records: many records of local interest, especially
in San Diego County; those of Statewide interest include
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Painted Redstart (pair) summer 1974 Laguna Mts., SD — first
documented nesting effort in CA
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Groove-billed Ani 25 Oct 1986 Seeley IMP — 3rd CA rec
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Laysan Albatross 5 May 1976 desert near Interstate 10, enroute
to Morongo Valley, RIV — one of very few interior recs in CA [co-finder]
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Selected publications 1974-1989:
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Unitt, P. 1974. Painted Redstarts attempt to breed in California. West.
Birds 5:94-96.
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Unitt, P. 1977. The Little Blue Heron in California. West. Birds 8:151-154.
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Unitt, P. 1981. Birds of Hot Springs Mountain, San Diego County, California.
West. Birds 12: 125-135.
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Unitt, P. 1984. The Birds of San Diego County. San Diego Soc. Natl. Hist.
Memoir 13.
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Unitt, P. 1986. Another hybrid Downy x Nuttall's Woodpecker from San Diego
County. West. Birds 17: 43-44.
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Unitt, P. 1987. Empidonax traillii extimus: a endangered subspecies.
West. Birds 18: 137-162.
Selected publications since 1989:
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Unitt, P., and Rea, A.M. 1997. Taxonomy of the Brown Creeper in California,
pp. 177-185 in The Era of Allan R. Phillips: A Festschrift (R.W.
Dickerman, compiler), Horizon Publ., Albuquerque, N.M.
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Unitt, P., Rea, A.M., Palacios, E., Mellink, E., Alfaro, L., and Gonzales,
S. 1995. Noteworthy records of birds in northwestern Baja California. West.
Birds 26: 144-154.
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Unitt, P., Messer, K., and Théry, M. 1996. Taxonomy of the Marsh
Wren in southern California. Proc. San Diego Soc. Nat. Hist. 31.
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Pyle, P., and Unitt, P. 1998. Molt and plumage variation by age and sex
in the California and Black-tailed gnatcatchers. West. Birds 29: 280-289.
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Unitt, P. 2000. Gray Vireos wintering in California elephant trees. West.
Birds 31: 258-262.
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Patten, M.A., McCaskie, G., and Unitt, P. 2002. Birds of the Salton Sea:
Status, Biogeography, and Ecology. Univ. Calif. Press, Berkeley & Los
Angeles.
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Unitt, P. 2004a. Featured photo: effect of plumage wear on the identification
of female Red-winged and Tricolored Blackbirds. West. Birds 35: 228-230.
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Unitt, P. 2004b. San Diego County Bird Atlas. Ibis Publ., Vista, CA.
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