A Great Gray Owl Observed in Yosemite National Park
A Great Gray Owl Observed in Yosemite National Park.-On the bright sunny morning of June 23, 1944, at 7400 feet altitude on the west branch of Bridalveil Creek in Yosemite National Park, a large gray owl was seen perched in the top of a small fir tree, less than six feet high, that grew near the center of a very wet meadow. I stopped the car to investigate and the binoculars showed that at a distance of 60 yards in good light this owl had no ear tufts or “horns.” The tail of this owl was much longer and more curved than that of a horned owl. When the bird flew the rounded wings and the relatively long tail were conspicuous. The owl alighted in a dead red fir tree where it remained motionless, its streaked grayish brown feathers blending with the dead bark of the tree. Yet it did not escape detection and was soon “mobbed” by several chickadees, kinglets and warblers. The owl made no attempt to fight back but closed its large yellow eyes, pulled in its feathers, and appeared as inoffensive and inconspicuous as possible. This was within less than two miles of the locality where Dr. Joseph Grinnell on June 18, 1915, collected a pair of adult Great Gray Owls (Scotiaptez nebulosa nebulose) which are now nos. 25534 and 25535 in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.-JOSEPH S. DIXON, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Berkeley, California, June 29, 1944.
