Saw-Whet Owl and California Woodpecker on Santa Cruz Island
Saw-whet Owl and California Woodpecker on Santa Cruz Island
On April 15, 1931, the writer saw a Saw-whet Owl (Cryptoglaux Acadia) near Pelican Harbor on Santa Cruz Island, California. The bird was flushed from some undergrowth at the bottom of a canon and flew to a low limb of a large shrub. The writer was able to crawl to within eight feet of the bird, which was in partial sunlight. The bird remained in full view for as long as the writer cared to observe it.
During several botanizing trips in 1930, the writer noted California Woodpeckers at three widely separated points on Santa Cruz Island, one a few miles from Scorpion Harbor on the east end, a pair in the main canon a mile below the ranch house, and three in a canon one mile east of Valdez Harbor on the north shore. The pair near the ranch house has been noted again in 1931. The California Woodpecker (Balanosphyra formicivora bairdi) apparently has invaded the island only lately. Many former observers have been through the main canon to the ranch house. It seems improbable that they could have missed this conspicuous and noisy bird, if any individual had been present.
Ralph Hoffmann
Santa Barbara, California, April 25, 1931
