Ralph Hoffmann on Birds:
Condor
From Field And Study

Bird Notes from Santa Cruz Island, California
Condor, volume 34, number 4, page 190.
December, 1932.

Compiled and Edited by
Robert 'Roy' J. van de Hoek
2003
Malibu, California

Bird Notes from Santa Cruz Island. - On Febraruy 20, 1932, I saw a Short-billed Gull (Larus canus brachyrhynchus) in immature plumage at Pelican Harbor, Santa Cruz Island, and on March 6, four Short-billed Gulls, three immature and one adult, in Prisoner's Harbor on Santa Cruz Island. The only published record for this bird from the Channel Islands is that of three individuals taken at Catalina, February 11, 1910, by A. van Rossem.

On March 5, 1932, I saw a Townsend Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi) on the ridge above Pelican Harbor.

Mr. Fred Caire reports a flock of about one hundred and fifty Band-tailed Pigeons (Columba fasciata) at the main ranch on Santa Cruz Island. He states that he has seen band-tails once before on the island, but there are no records for either the Band-tailed Pigeon or the Townsend Solitaire in Howell's list. Both species have been present in Santa Barbara this winter in unusual numbers, and nearer the sea than the writer has ever before seen them.

The writer noted Varied Thrushes (Ixoreus naevius naevius) near Pelican Harbor on Santa Cruz Island on February 21, 1932. A specimen, proving of this subspecies, was taken by Harry H. Sheldon at the main ranch on March 5. - RALPH HOFFMANN, Santa Barbara, California. March 11, 1932.

Concluding Remarks
by
Robert Roy van de Hoek

Ralph Hoffmann was in his 62nd year of life in 1932 (February-March) when he observed the Short-billed Gull (today called Mew Gull), Varied Thrush, and Townsend Solitaire on Santa Cruz Island. Later that year in July, while on San Miguel Island, Ralph Hoffmann would fall from a cliff at Point Bennett and the citizens of California lost a great naturalist, scientist, writer, and museum director. This article by Ralph Hoffmann appeared in the July issue of Condor. It may have been coincidence, or fate, or the editor, Joseph Grinnell, simply placing the article in print for the July issue of Condor. The scientific journal called Condor, is named for the California Condor, and interestingly, the cover of Ralph Hoffmann's book, Birds of the Pacific States, has an artistic illustration of a California Condor in flight. Also, the written narrative text by Ralph Hoffmann describes how a "serious bird student" needs to climb a cliff to see the California Condor. We now know that Ralph Hoffmann's article for Condor, was in press before he fell from the cliff on San Miguel. Undoubtedly, the editor of Condor, Joseph Grinnell, kept a written correspondence with Ralph Hoffmann. It is well known that Joseph Grinnell kept meticulous files of all correspondence. The files are archived in Berkeley at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of California. This would be an interesting avenue of research to conduct at the University of California. We might learn more of the deep philosophy of birds of California by studying the written correspondence between Ralph Hoffmann and Joseph Grinnell from the 1919, when Ralph Hoffmann moved to California, until 1932 when he died from his accident.

The observations via Ralph Hoffmann's oral interview with Fred Caire regarding Band-tailed Pigeon is an investigative research method that a good naturalist or ornithologist can utilize to learn more about the birds of a particular region. Not only Ralph Hoffmann, but Joseph Grinnell, and other scientists use oral interviews to learn more about the avifauna of a region. I also used this line of research of oral interview recently in completing a report of Great Blue Heron in southern California.

It is noteworthy, that as Ralph Hoffmann conducted his explorations of the Channel Islands for native plants, he also observed birds. The Howell report of 1917, was the major publication on birds of the Channel Islands. Since it had been 15 years since it was published, it is interesting to speculate that Ralph Hoffmann and Joseph Grinnell were listing new bird records for the Channel Islands, perhaps working to an eventual goal for one or both of them to do a new book on the birds of the Channel Islands. A book on the Channel Islands is a project that Paul Collins of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and Lee Jones have planned now for some time. They did put a checklist of the birds into print as a small booklet for the National Park Service and the public. I think that there is a need a desire for a book on the birds of the Channel Island that needs to be readily available to the public. A book on the Internet is a legitimate venue and it is a project that I am embarking upon. This internet book will also be full of history, geography, ecology, and include the text of original 1917 book of the birds of the Channel Islands by Alfred Howell. The internet version will include songs of the dialects of the island endemic birds and how they are different from mainland birds. For example, the Island Spotted Towhee song is quite different from the Spotted Towhee of the southern California mainland. Internet photographs and comparisons of how the island races look different from mainland races will be feature. For example, the Scrub Jay of Santa Cruz Island will be compared to the Scrub Jay of the mainland. Recently, scientists have determined that their is a distinguishable full species difference so it was elevated to a new species. However, what about the song-calls of the Island Jay and how are they different from the mainland. A computer internet link can be selected to hear the difference in this internet book. Funding is necessary to complete this internet book which also is planned to be a printed-hard-bound book which will have a C-D (compact disk) which will have the bird sounds of the Channel Islands and photographs for the book. The owner of such a book will be led arm-chair style, around the islands and through the islands, by maps, figures, narrative text, and photographs. The early issues of the magazine, Condor, include photographs and brief itinerary of the journeys of the bird watchers and egg collectors to the Channel Islands. All of this history, geography and early environmental interest in the Channel Islands prior to World War II will be documented. The book will be both a book of current birds and the history of birds of Channel Islands National Park.

The new records of birds by Ralph Hoffmann in 1932, since the 1917 Howell book were the Short-billed Gull (now called Mew Gull), Townsend Solitaire, and Band-tailed Pigeon.
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