Food Items from Red-Tailed Hawk and Marsh Hawk Nests
Food Items from Red-tailed Hawk and Marsh Hawk Nests.-Pellets taken on July 12, 1939, from the nest of a Marsh Hawk in a Salicornia marsh about five miles southwest of Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, California, contained the following: Insects: 8 Jerusalem crickets (Stenopelmatus sp.). Birds: 1 Ruddy Duck (Erismatura jamaicensis), 1 Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) ; 1 Pipit (Anthus spinoletta) ; 1 Brewer Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) ; 1 House Finch (Carpodacus mexicannus). Mammals: 3 meadow mice (Microtus californicus) ; 3 harvest mice (Reithrodontomys longicaudus) .
From under a Red-tailed Hawk’s nest in a eucalyptus about 5 miles northwest of Watsonville, there were taken on the same date pellets representing: Reptiles: 1 alligator lizard (Gerrhonotus coeruleus) ; 3 gopher snakes (Pituophis catenifer). Birds: 1 Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculates) ; 1 House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) ; 1 small bird, also probably a House Finch. Mammals: 4.California ground squirrels (Citellus beecheyi) ; 1 pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae) ; 1 meadow mouse (Microtus californiicus) ; 1 brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) ; 2 rabbits (both apparently Sylvilagus bachmani).-R. ’ M. BOND, Soil Conservation Service, Portland, Oregon, November 11, 1946.
