Spotted Owls in San Diego County
Spotted Owls in San Diego County
On June 22, 1910, while hunting on Palomar Mountain, San Diego County, California, a strange object was seen moving in an oak tree about sixty feet above the ground. On closer observation its identity became more uncertain; although I whistled several times it did not move. I finally decided to shoot and was astonished at the downfall of a dried gray-squirrel carcass. The animal had evidently been killed or had died lying crossways on a large limb. Its tail waving in the wind was the feature which had attracted me.
At the same moment of the gun’s explosion a large bird was seen to flop on the next limb directly above where the squirrel’s dried carcass had hung. Not being able to recognize the bird I decided to watch, and after a few minutes an owl was seen to cautiously peep over the edge of the limb. It eyed me first with one black eye and then the other. I shot it, and on picking up the specimen was surprised to identify a full-plumaged Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis).
The following year, 1911, on the same date, June 22, and in the same locality, a party of us had planned to go to a nearby hillside where tiger hhes were known to grow, and being rather on the lookout for specimens, I took my gun. All of us were busily engaged in digging the bulbs of the lilies, when a sudden "ow-w-w-ow" brought me to my feet, gun in hand, and after cautiously peering in all the surrounding trees a Spotted Owl was seen perched near the top and very close to the trunk of a small cedar tree about forty feet high. Not wishing to shoot the bird to pieces my aim was made a little to the side. The shot dropped a wounded bird and while I was occupied in extinguishing its life a clamorous call from a member of the party proclaimed the location of a second owl. I quickly dropped the first bird, grabbed the gun and soon had two owls to my credit. The last one was also perched near the trunk and very close to the top of a small fir tree about 60 feet high.
These birds were in moult, one having a single tail feather, and the other none at all; they were a pair and probably had raised a brood early in the spring. Further examination made positive that this spot had been their roosting place for some time past. The stomachs of these birds were entirely empty, giving no evidence of what their food might have been in this locality.
LAURENCE M. HUEY
San Diego, California.
