Ralph Hoffmann on Birds:

Saw-whet Owl and California Woodpecker on Santa Cruz Island
Condor 33 (4):171.
July 1931.

Written and Edited by
Robert 'Roy' Jan van de Hoek
©2003
Malibu, California

Saw-whet Owl and California Woodpecker on Santa Cruz Island. - On April 15, 1931, the writer saw a Saw-whet Owl (Cryptoglaux acadica) near Pelican Harbor on Santa Cruz Island, California. The bird was flushed from some undergrowth at the bottom of a cañon 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 cañon a mile below the ranch house, and three in a cañon 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 cañon 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.

Concluding Remarks
by
Robert Roy van de Hoek

The Saw-whet Owl is common on Santa Cruz Island only because the Great-horned Owl does not occur there because the large Owl preys upon the diminutive owl. It also explains why the Saw-Whet Owl is common on Catalina. So why is the Great-horned Owl which is such a voracious predator of small owls afraid to fly across the Pacific Ocean to the islands, while the little Saw-whet Owl is not afraid?

The California Woodpecker is now called the Acorn Woodpecker and it is not a genuine native bird of Santa Cruz Island. The planting of Eucalyptus, palm, and other trees has allowed for the un-natural invasion of this Woodpecker. Similarly, on Catalina Island, the Acorn Woodpecker invaded in the 1950s because of tree-plantings. On Catalina, the Acorn Woodpecker depends heavily on date-palm fruits and other non-native trees.

The article by Ralph Hoffmann is a short note but full of information. It has the impart of the editor, Joseph Grinnell, underlying the written words of Ralph Hoffmann. For example, the spanish spelling of canyon as cañon is a reflection of Joseph Grinnell. In this short essay, cañon appeared four times with this spelling and it added a stylistic charm to the science writing.
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