The Spotted Owl Nesting in the Sequoia Belt
The Spotted Owl Nesting in the Sequoia Belt
About 4:30 p.m. on June 10, 1940, an owl and her young were reported from the Wilsonia Road about one-eighth mile south of headquarters at General Grant Grove Section of Kings Canyon National Park, Tulare County, California. Upon visiting the spot two young owls in juvenal plumage were seen perched on the roots of a large fallen log; the parent owl perched on a limb of a white fir two hundred feet away. The size, lack of ear tufts, and blackish eyes, helped identify the birds as California Spotted Owls, Strix occidentalis occidentalis.
A number of Kodachrome photographs were taken of the young birds, which could be approached closely. Examination of the down log revealed a hollow about two feet in diameter which looked as if it might have been the nesting site.
Nearly two weeks later one of the young owls, still unable to fly well, was captured by a camper. It was returned to the log where the other young one was found in the hollow. Mrs. Beatrice B. Nielsen watched the parent feed the young owl a small bird. In doing this she pulled off strips of flesh for the young. The last date on which the owls were seen was June 25, 1940.
This nesting of the Spotted Owl in Kings Canyon National Park at an elevation of 6600 feet in the sequoia belt, we believe is the first definite breeding record for this area. Marshall (Condor, vol. 41, 1939, p. 77) has mentioned its occurrence in summer at Whitaker’s Forest, Tulare County.
Harold C. Bryant
Kings Canyon National Park, California, September 11, 1940
