Small wave this morning; nothing new.

Observations of local interest:


Band-tailed Pigeon 6
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1
Western Wood-Pewee 1
Pacific-slope Flycatcher 1
Warbling Vireo 5
Swainson's Thrush 5
Cedar Waxwing 20
Warblers:
Orange-crowned 6
Yellow 1
Townsend's 6
Hermit 2
Wilson's 3
Western Tanager 13
Black-headed Grosbeak 18
Lazuli Bunting 1 m., 1 f.


Yesterday I observed 2 White-throated Swifts flying and calling over Mt. D.
I also observed a Red-tailed Hawk dive at, grab, and fumble a Botta's Pocket
Gopher near the top of the Ravine; the gopher, seemingly unharmed, scurried
away into the weeds.

Paul Saraceni
paul.saraceni@...

Speaking of Botta, he was young doctor/naturalist on French voyage along
the Pacific coast in 1820s...he found a number of new species inlcuding his
pocket gopher and Anna's Hummingbird...Botta went on to great fame as
diplomat/archaeologist, discovering the ruins of Nineveh in what is now
Iraq...cabinet scientists back in Europe published the first scientific
descriptions of the species he collected on that 1820s voyage...his natural
history notes on the voyage were never published