"Cicero in a famous passage in one of his orations extols the delights of the study of literature, asserting that it forms the taste of youth, delights the old age, is an ornament in prosperity, a solace in adversity, accompanies us to the country, and travels with us to foreign lands. We might easily paraphrase the orator's words and apply them to the study of birds. It develops keen observation in youth and is a resource in old age, even for the invalid if he can but have a porch or a window for a post of observation. Birds become the companions of our work in the garden and our walks; martins and nighthawks or a gray-winged gull sail across the sky even opposite a dentist's window. Birds in a new region are simply birds to the uninitiated; to one who has known the birds at home, a journey offers an opportunity to make new friends. If a parent wishes to give his children three gifts for the years to come, I should put next to a passion for truth and a sense of humor, love of beauty in any form. Who will deny that birds are a conspicuous manifestation of beauty in nature?"
The largest bird of California is the Condor. In fact, it is the bird that Ralph Hoffmann has on the cover of his book. Regarding the Condor, Ralph Hoffmann said the following: "The ambition of every California bird student is to see a Condor. The great size of the bird, its restricted range and the comparative inaccessibility of its haunts combine to give the student a tremendous thrill when the last canyon wall is climbed and the great black bird is seen soaring over the next jagged peak.... Resident in the mountains of southern California, chiefly in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, locally north to Monterey County, east to Kern county, and south to Los Angeles County." The Condor motivated Hoffmann to use such emotional words as "thrill" and "tremendous" and "ambition." It is clear also that four of the five counties listed are coastal counties and all in southern California, precisely where the largest human development and population occurs. Yet, efforts to restore the Condor indicate that it is a gregarious bird and does not mind being near people. Therefore, if Ralph Hoffmann were alive today, he would recommend that the local mountains of southern California, despite the population of people, could be used for restoration of the Condor. The Santa Monica Mountains, San Gabriel Mountains, and Santa Ynez Mountains would be three mountain ranges he would have suggested. The Condor was already in decline so that he did not see it nesting along the coast and he did not see it feeding on beaches on seal carcasses, dolphin carcasses, and whale carcasses. However, the Condor, Brown Grizzly Bear, Coyote, Raven, and Golden Eagle, as a "quintet," all relished a saunter on the beach and would alight on the sight or smell of a seal carcass. Today, we humans feel the need to bury a dead seal in the beach sand or remove it from the beach and take it to the landfill. How will we ever have those five animals on our beaches of southern California if we continue to remove the dead marine mammals that settle on our beaches. A beach is beautiful and curious when it has a dead marine mammal on it. I have noticed that on the Channel Islands, as did Ralph Hoffmann, that marine mammals are left on the beach to decompose. Perhaps, the Condor needs to be restored to the Channel Islands, since it is a National Park whose purpose is to keep habitat for wild nature.
The next bird I have chosen is the White-tailed Kite because Ralph Hoffmann knew its plight in California, away back in the 1920s, now 80 years ago. He said: "In south-central California the rivers that come from the Coast Range have formed broad valleys with extensive willow thickets. Here one may still see the white head and breast, of a White-tailed Kite perched in the low willows or on the highest branch of live oak, or see the bird hovering with rapid wing-beats and outspread tail in its search for small game. The softeness of its coloring and confiding and gentle nature of the White-tailed Kite, so different from the wildness of most birds of prey, make a strong appeal to lovers of nature but nto alas! to the usual run of gunners. The bird seems to require such particular conditions for its breeding stations, that even where it is not molested it does not increase or occupy new ground. There are probably not more than fifty pairs left in California, and in spite of protection by law the number is slowly decreasing. ..... Distribution: California. Resident in river valleys from Santa Clara and Monterey Counties to Ventura County."
Ralph Hoffman so acutely selected the term "gunners" which are those people that shoot and aim their guns at wildlife. He did this right after he used the phrase "lovers of nature" and it struck a nerve of emotion in me and I hope in you too. That is one reason I selected the White-tailed Kite, but also because "Ventura County" is mentioned in connection with the phrase of "resident in river valleys" and "slowly decreasing" and "not more than fifty pairs in California, in spite of protection by law." If only about 2-3 young are born in fity nests, that indicates that only 100-150 young bird are born each year. If we use ecology data on mortality on average of about 25-33% for offspring, it indicates that only 60-90 Kites may make it to adults. Of course, many of these fall prey to "gunners" even today in the new millenium and new century in 2003. The White-tailed Kite needs all the remaining lands of the Newhall Company on the Santa Clara River of Los Angeles-Ventura County boundary area, Ballona, Bolsa Chica, and even open areas along the Los Angeles River. The Kite is such a beautiful bird and spokesperson for nature if we will listen.
The Sandhill Crane was chosen because Ralph Hoffman correctly described its geography in California. Ralph Hoffmann said: "The Sandhill Crane belongs to the vanishing races, like the bison and the Indian of the plains. Cultivation and drainage havec already destroyed much of its breeding ground and greatly reduced its numbers. A few may still be found in summer in the marshy country surrounding the lakes of northeastern California and eastern Oregon.... The Little Brown Crane will probably long survive its larger relative the Sandhill Crane. Its breeding grounds in the Arctic tundras will not soon be invaded by man nor turned into grain-fields, and even on migration it can still find uncultivated areas where it can feed and rest unmolested. On the west side of athe San Joaquin Valley are wide plains of sage-brush with scattered ponds in the hollows; here the Cranes on their return from the Arctic find meadows spacious and desolate enough to satify their vigilance. When an intruder approaches a flock feeding o resting in such a solitary waste, a low rolling crronk from some watchful bird warns his fellows, .... There are often a few Cranes in a flock that are distinctly larger than the rest; these are Sandhill Cranes which are wintering with the Little Brown Cranes." No one can doubt that Ralph Hoffmann was referring to the Carrizo Plain when he said "on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley are wide plains of sage-brush witch scattered ponds in the hollows... meadows spacious and desolate enough to satisfy their vigilance. The term vernal pool was not in existence yet in ecology, so Ralph Hoffmann used a New Enlgand term, from the Massachusetts region, "hollow," as in Sleepy Hollow, or some other Hollow, as these are ponds filled with water. On the Carrizo Plain, many ponds are found in the winter filled with water and with meadows surrounding them. There are no "sage-brush" however, as it is truely saltbush, which resembles "sage-brush." So we learn that Ralph Hoffmann was still learning the California flora and not yet distinguished between sage-brush and saltbush, which are in two different genera, Artemisia and Atriplex respectively. But perhaps I am mistaken, because now I looked up Sage Sparrow on page 327 of Ralph Hoffmann's book to find the following passage: "the Sage Sparrow is found in drdy, open plains, often alkaline, where a variety of low bushes (Artemisia, Atriplex and Chrysothamnus) are all locally known as sage. Most wildflower guide books and botanists try to call Artemisia as sage-brush, Atriplex as saltbush, and Chrysothamnus as Rabbitbrush. Perhaps Ralph Hoffmann knew and it was just an oversight that he referred to the saltbush of the San Joaquin Valley as sage-brush. In any event, Atriplex is the plant that borders the vernal pools (hollows) and meadows (prairies) of the San Joaquin Valley and Carrizo Plain. By the way, the same saltbushes that Cranes land among to rest and forage are also the same saltbushes that Sage Sparrows nest in and sing their beautiful songs in spring, while the Cranes are arriving in Alaska's spring.
Finally, there is the American Osprey that Ralph Hoffmann describes eloquently. First, a little history of the Osprey in southern California. The American Osprey is gone from most of southern California, except for Catalina, where an attempt is being made to raise young Osprey. I don't mean to say that we do not see Osprey, as they migrate to southern California every winter. However, we have no nesting Osprey and year-round Osprey in southern California. And Ralph Hoffmann in his opening sentence about the Osprey immediately discusses that the Osprey was year-round as on the Channel Islands as follows: "Here and there on some of the Channel Islands off the coast of southern California, or on some inland lake or stream, a huge nest of sticks is a conspicuous object on the broken top of a dead tree. From the nest a large hawk with whitish head an white underparts flies to the ocean or a near-by lake or estuary, and circles overhead watching for the gleam of a fish near the surface, or hovers with tail spread and feet dangling. From a height often of a hundred feet the Fish Hawk strikes the watere with such force that it disappears below the surface, generally emerging with its talons fixed in the back of a fish; then with a labored flight it sets off for the nest. When an intruder approaches the nest, the Fish Hawk begins a shrill pee, pee, pee, followed by a low cak, cak, cak. At other times... Distribution. California. Summer Visitor on some of the Channel Islands, sparingly along the coast on the mainland, and the lakes northeast;; winters occasionally. " Ralph Hoffmann shows us clearly what a grand bird the Osprey is a member of the very wild in California. As discussed by Ralph Hoffmann, the Osprey stays put on its nest with the arrival of a human intruder, which makes it vulnerable to fishermen with guns, not just fishing poles. And believe me you, many fishermen with boats moving along the cliffs of the Channel Islands National Park carry guns to shoot not only Osprey, but pelicans, herons, eagles, seals, dolphins, whales, primarily because some fishermen are really primititve humans with an apparent abundance of "neandertal man" characteristics. And you thought that "neandertal man" had gone extinct at the end of the Ice Ages more than 10,00 years ago according to science books. It is time now in 2003, a new millenium and century, leaving behind the Ice Ages, to have the Osprey and its large nests, on every cliff of southern California. I think of the cliffs of Point Loma, La Jolla, Palos Verdes, Dana Point, Malibu, Gaviota, Point Conception, and all eight Channel Islands. Southern California, not northern California, is the premiere habitat for American Osprey year-around! All modern, post-neandertal people, will rejoice in the American Osprey catching fish and then being chased by the American Bald Eagle. Our national symbol enjoys stealing from the Osprey, something that Benjamin Franklin noted over 240 years ago in his books and other writings. Americans must be entitled to see these two other Americans at work beyond the waves along beaches in Santa Monica beach, Long Beach, Redondo Beach, Ventura beach, San Diego beach, Malibu beach, and Huntington Beach. We must not forget the estuary (harbors). I was very impressed to see that Ralph Hoffmann utilized the term: ESTUARY.
In closing a worthy goal for southern California is to have the White-tailed Kite, California Condor, Sandhill Crane, and American Osprey all living in abundance in southern California near the coast, year-round, except the Crane which would always be a winter visitor. In Alaska, Cranes nest on tundra not too far from the Pacific Ocean, certainly within sight of the seashore and coast. So it would be natural for Cranes to be near the seashore and coast in southern California in winter. If only we do this for birders and nature lovers of our past and future people like Ralph Hoffmann.