The Spotted Owl 



Taken in Ventura County 



like. When she moved along a limb her every movement suggested a 



parrot, really a striking resemblance." 



Not satisfied, however, with these distant views, and finding their 



tackle too short to reach 

 the nest from above, the 

 scientists left a rope 

 dangling and travelled 

 over night to town for 

 more apparatus. Re- 

 turning, they found ser- 

 ious changes: "Picture 

 the three grim cliff 

 scalers with their five 

 hundred feet of rope rid- 

 ing up and finding the 

 owls not on the ledge at 

 all, but come to meet 

 them! It was really as 

 bad as that, for there, in 

 an insignificant oak 

 across the ravine, sat the 

 two youngsters with 

 their parent. All three 

 were well within the 

 reach of any six-year-old 

 boy. They were distant 

 a hundred yards or so 

 from the nest, and the 

 hillside rose so steeply on 

 that side that they were 

 almost level with the 

 nest although not over 

 fifteen feet from the 

 ground. That the young 

 could have reached the 

 spot unaided seems in- 

 credible, for although 

 the primaries were well 

 grown out, they were, 

 with that exception, in 

 the complete down, and 

 were still weak. The 



Photo by Dickey 



"THAT THE YOUNG COULD HAVE REACHED THE SPOT UNAIDED 

 SEEMS INCREDIBLE" 



IOQ4 



