Transcribing the field notes of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology

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. 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.

Collector: Grinnell - 1925 Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft. Date: Oct. 13 Page Number: 2586

see in very faint outline the mountains of Sonora. The panorama reminded me strongly of that seen from the Santa Rosa or San Jacinto mountains of southern California eastward. Toward the top of the divide the prevailing Jeffrey pines were mixed with some white fir, incense cedar and sugar pine; and in the rough hills adjoining the pass were numerous scrubby oaks, and rather dense chaparral of manzanita, buckthorn, and cascara. It was here, on the dessert slope of the divide, that I encountered the three Calif. Jays. The following census was pencil checked on card-board on the way out, from camp to my farthest point over the divide, 7:20 to 10:00. Pigmy Nuthatch 68; Audubon Warbler 5 (only along the stream); Bluebird 10; Cabanis Woodpecker 6; Townsend Junco 13; Chickadee 10; Raven 5; Red-tailed Hawk 2; Pinyon Jay 1 (heard); Olive-backed Thrush (1, in cascara bush); Canyon Wren 2; Williamson Sapsucker 1; Slender-billed Nuthatch 4; Red-shafted Flicker 1; Spurred Towhee 1; Siskin 5; Calif. Jay 3. Total, 17 species, 138 individuals, in 2 2/3 hours. Note that just about half of all the birds noted were Pigmy Nuthatches! Of mammals I checked in the same period; Chipmunk 28;Scirus 2 (in pine near divide); Wildcat (one out in open meadow in bight sunshine; bounded up a draw; may have been laying for birds coming to drink at the seepage near where he was); on the way down