1925: Joseph Grinnell's field notes

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft. Date: Oct. 9 Page Number: 2578

6456 Slender-billed Nuthatch (female sign) ad. 16.8g. Shot from bole of pine. 6457 Sierra (?) Junco (male sign) im. 18.3g. Shot on ground among salvia bushes. This was the only junco of this form seen so far; alone. 6458 Junco (male sign) ad. 18.3g. bill, pinkish white; iris sepia; shot in willow. 6459 Junco (male sign) im. 18.8g. bill, pinkish white; iris sepia; shot in willow with the last. 6460 Bluebird (female sign) im. 27.3g. Shot in pine. 6461 Bluebird (male sign) im. 28.2. Shot in pine. 6462 Bluebird (male sign) im. 29.9. Shot in pine. 6463 Bluebird (male sign) ad. 28.5g. Shot in pine. 6464 Cabanis Woodpecker (female sign) 46.7g. Shot in pine. 6465 Cabanis Woodpecker (female sign) 53.6g. Shot in pine. This morning I went off to the south about 2 miles up a draw and into some hills where there was considerable of the oak growth that looked good for birds from a distance. I saw nothing there, however, not common around camp; only a few Mountain Chickadees, one small company of Bluebirds, two Cabanis Woodpeckers, and the ever-present Pigmy Nuthatches. All of these were in or about pines, not in the oaks at all. Oh yes, -- two Ravens flew over. Most of the birds put up today, and listed above, I shot within half a mile of camp. Of the bluebirds, pigmy nuthatches, and chickadees, there is a seemingly exhaustless supply right around us. Saw a Tanager today, in the cascara thickets, where I shot one the other day. Heard the

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft. Date: Oct. 9 Page Number: 2579

Red-breasted Sapsucker again, but failed to sight him; he evidently visits a series of punctured trees in a sort of regular or irregular circuit. Tonight I saw a Prairie Falcon in flight; my attention was attracted to it by hearing the startled shreek (sic) of a ground squirrel These squirrels get into my steel traps every day; they must smell the meat bait, or else cover a great deal of ground in promiscuous foraging each day. Merriam Chipmunks are as numerous as chipmunks any place I have ever been; they, too, cover all sorts of ground pretty thoroly. Almost every sort of bird and mammal now a days, visits the cascara bushes, which are fruiting plentifully. There are no acorns, and few or no fruits of the manzanita and buckthorn. The pine cone crop is fair. Take away the pines and the cascaras, and the birds and mammals would be faring poorly, indeed; doubtless a number of the species would promptly become extinct. Another year the oaks might be the dependence. I have seen much more mole sign, even far up in the hills, beyond any gopher workings, where the coarse granite gravel between the boulders looks most sterile. In such places the mole "ridges" are sinuous, caved-in grooves-- the animals leaving no hole, just moving along close to the surface, and

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft. Date: Oct. 9 Page Number: 2580

doubtless hardly covered with dirt as they go. I suppose they find the insects in the leaf-mold under the thickets here and there. Lamb and I both have "modified" Macabee gofer (sic) traps set all the time for the moles, but this species is so small that an individual goes thru and thru (sic) a trap without springing it, or if sprung, without nipping(?) him. 7:00 p.m. -- Barometer = 23.20 inches Sky partly overcast, but northwest wind blowing cold. 6466 Merriam Chipmunk (male sign) 56g. 226x98x34x14. Under boulder. 6467 Merriam Chipmunk (male sign) 55.4g. 217x90x33x16. Under manzanita. Oct. 10 6468 Thomomys (female sign) 88g. 196x71x29.5x4. In wet sand. 6469 Thomomys (male sign) 129 g. 225x80x32x4 In dry "second(?)bottom". Discarded: 1 Peromyscus maniculatus (male sign), under edge of boulder by cascara thicket; P. truei, 1 (male sign), 1 (female sign);by cascara bushes and boulders; P. boylii (male sign), by manzanita, on dry upland. 6470 Audubon Warbler (female sign) im. 10.0g. Shot in willow by stream. 6471 Pigmy Nuthatch (male sign)ad. 10.5g. Shot on ground under pine. 6472 Slender-billed Nuthatch (male sign) ad. 16.4g. Shot from high in pine. 6473 Townsend Junco (male sign) ad. 18.6g. Shot on top of boulder. 6474 White-crowned Sparrow (male sign) ad. 26.9g. Shot in willow by stream. 6475 Monterey Hermit Thrush (male sign) im. 21.8(?)g. Shot in cascara bush. 6476 Tanager (male sign) im. 25.3g. Shot in cascara bush under pine. 6477 Bluebird (male sign) ad. 27.0g. Shot from lower branch of pine. 6578 Spurred Towhee (female sign) ad. 36.4g. Shot in top of cascara bush. 6479 "Pinero" (female sign) ad. 91.4g. Shot from pine.

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft. Date: Oct. 10 Page Number: 2581

The taking of an adult White-crowned Sparrow today, with brown-crowned immatures in the vicinity, brings doubt as to the identity of the considerable numbers of zonotrichias here -- since an adult Intermediate (gambeli) was also taken. I was under the impression all were of the latter race until today. Saw at least 3 Tanagers (Western) today, in cascara bushes; also 3 Solitaires, and tonight heard the "creak" note. Bluebirds are as numerous as ever, possibly more so; and there is the chance now that northern "occidentalis"(?) have come in, along with such winter visitants as solitaires and Sierra juncos. 6480 Eutamias merriami (female sign) 58.2g. 232x99x35x15} in rat traps 6481 Eutamias merriami (female sign) 60.4. 223x100x33x14} at boulders 6482 Eutamias merriami (female sign) 67.4. 228x100x35x14} and cascara bushes. 6483 Solitaire (female sign) im. 37.2g., fat. Shot in Cascara bush. Oct 11 6484 Scapanus (male sign) 37.3g. 141x30x18. Caught in "modified Macabee" set in surface run in sandy ground under litter of pine needles twigs and cones, under pine. 6485 Wren-tit (female sign) ad. 13.5g. Shot in cascara bush} mates 6486 Wren-tit (male sign) ad. 16.0g. Shot in manzanita near-by} 6487 Solitaire (female sign) im. 38.2g, fat. Shot on stub, to which it flew from a cascara bush; two berries of same in gullet. 6488 Townsend Junco (male sign) ad. 16.9g. Shot off of boulder. 6489 Townsend Junco (males sign) ad. 19.4g. Shot off of stump. Both up in hillside chaparral. Juncos now scarce; only adults left. Ims. and (female sign female sign) have emigrated(?) -- down-hill?

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft. Date: Oct. 11 Page Number: 2582 6490 Bluebird (male sign) im. 26.6g. Shot from pine. 6491 Tree Swallow (male sign) im. 16.4g. Shot as it coursed back and forth alone above the bottom strip of Arroyo La Encantada. 6492 Cooper Hawk. (male sign) im. Shot as it flew up from among rocks and brush with remains [saved] of Valley Quail in its claws. Later today saw another Cooper Hawk sweep down into a bevy of quail which, however, apparently all escaped. I am impressed with the great numbers and wide adaptability of the Pigmy Nuthatches. They are on the ground a good deal of the time, working over the litter; or in the seed heads of Salvia carnosa, working at them seemingly as do goldfinches. Then they work in the needle clumps of the pines, and all around the limbs upon which they hammer with great assiduity, leading me on many a wild goose chase in quest of a supposed woodpecker. Also they pound away upon the opening cones. I often see a nuthatch fly from one tree to another with a pine seed, relatively huge for the bird, in its bill. A good deal of the pounding one hears doubtless appertains to the opening of these seeds. Truly the Pigmy Nuthatch here is an all-round bird; it is dominant in point of numbers, too. I saw my first Siskins here this afternoon, three of them feeding in salvia heads on open ground whence they flew to a pine, where I secured one. Heard my first Sparrow Hawk late this afternoon.