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<br />002486 <br /> <br />near open water (Gorski 1969; Sogge 1995). The historic breeding range of the SWWF includes <br />Arizona, New Mexico, southern California, and southern portions of Nevada, Utah, and perhaps <br />southwestern Colorado, and extends east into western Texas (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service <br />1993). <br /> <br />From 1974 through 1996 the Grand Canyon population was detected between Colorado River <br />miles 47 and 71 (Unitt 1987, Sogge et al. 1995, 1997). SWWF were common in Glen Canyon <br />and the lower San Juan River prior to impoundment by Glen Canyon Dam (Woodbury and <br />Russell 1945, Behle and Higgins 1959). This area was inundated by Lake Powell and no singing <br />male SWWF were detected in a 1991 survey below Glen Canyon dam, although weather may <br />have been a factor (Brown 1991a). SWWF were rather commonly reported along the pre-dam <br />Colorado River at Lees Ferry, with records at Lees Ferry in 1909, 1933, 1935, and 1961, and <br />near Lava Canyon in 1931 and near the Little Colorado River confluence in 1953 (reviewed by <br />Sogge et al. 1997); however, the pre-dam distribution of SWWF in Marble Canyon and through <br />Grand Canyon is poorly known. Carothers and Sharber (1976) reported only one pair of SWWF <br />in Grand Canyon in the early 1970's surveys. Brown (1988) noted a brief population increase in <br />the Grand Canyon from two in 1982, to a maximum of 11 (two in Cardenas Marsh), with a <br />subsequent decline to seven in 1987. Brown (1991a) detected two pairs in 1991, with nests <br />located at River Mile 50.7 and at River Mile 71.1 (Cardenas Marsh). Surveys in 1992 detected <br />seven SWWF, three unpaired males and two breeding pairs in Cardenas Marsh (Sogge et al. <br />1995a). A total of five SWWF were detected in Grand Canyon in 1995: three territorial but non. <br />breeding males and one breeding pair that fledged a single young (Sogge et al. 1995a). The <br />unpaired male SWWF established territories between Colorado River miles 50.5 and 65.3, and <br />the breeding pair nested at mile 50.5. In 1996 Sogge et al (1997) reported' three singing SWWF, <br />but only one successfully breeding pair along the Colorado River in upper Grand Canyon. The <br />single pair apparently fledged two young. In 1997, the single nest in upper Grand Canyon was <br />parasitized by brown-headed cowbirds and failed. A single SWWF nest near mile 265 in 1997 <br />produced two young (Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center 1997). Other recent <br />reports of SWWF breeding in the lower Colorado River basin have stimulated additional <br />research there. Throughout the state, there were approximately 113 pairs of SWWF in 1996 <br />(Sferra et al. 1997) and 166 in 1997 (McCarthey et al, in prep). <br /> <br />Stevens et al. (1996) reported on the 1996 BHBF impacts on Grand Canyon SWWF <br />habitat. Nest stand vegetation impacts were nominal: two stands were slightly scoured, and three <br />sites sustained a slight reduction in ground cover and/or branch abundance at <0.6 m above the <br />ground; however, no reduction in branch abundance or alteration of stand composition occurred, <br />and the BHBF did not inundate the bases of any historic nest trees. Impacts on marsh foraging <br />habitats were more severe, with decreases in area of 1 % to >72%. Two of four SWWF sites <br />regained vegetated area during the summer of 1996, while two other marshes sustained slight <br />additional losses in cover through the 1996 growing season. <br /> <br />Life Requisites <br /> <br />SWWF arrive in the Grand Canyon area in mid-May, but may be confused with another <br />subspecies, the more common E.t. brewsteri, which migrates through to more northern breeding <br />grounds (Aldrich 1951; Unitt 1987). E.t. brewsteri sings during migration, making sub-specific <br />distinctions difficult until mid-June (Brown 1991b). Males arrive earlier than females and set up <br />territories. The characteristic territorial song is a "fitz-bew," most frequently heard in the <br />