California Spotted Owl in San Diego County, California
California Spotted Owl in San Diego County, California
In these days, when ever-increasing numbers of campers and hunters leave practically no areas secure from human intrusion, with its possible effect upon natural life, it may be well from time to time to record the continued existence of bird species in localities where there is danger of their extermination. In this connection it is a pleasure to note that the California Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) still persists in the limited wooded area on Palomar Mountain, San Diego County, California, in spite of changing conditions due to “cabin-site” and other “resort” activities. On August 17, 1929, Tennant Brooks, a young naturalist camping on Palomar Mountain, collected a Spotted Owl (evidently a bird of the year), which he attempted to mount. He later presented it to the San Diego Society of Natural History. It has been remounted and placed on exhibition in the Society's museum, as part of the “Identification Series of San Diego County Birds.” To the writer's knowledge, no other record of a Spotted Owl from San Diego County has come to the notice of the San Diego Society of Natural History in at least ten years.
Clinton G. Abbott
San Diego Society of Natural History, San. Diego, California, December 11, 1929
