Goshawk at the Rancho!

Today April 18, 2010 I scared an adult female Northern Goshawk out of an Oak tree at the ranch, in the eastern Santa Maria Valley. It was twenty-five feet from 30 chickens in a pen. Arthur Bent said: "the goshawk, this bold brigand of the north woods, the largest, the handsomest, and the most dreaded of the Accipiter tribe, swoops down, in winter, upon our poultry yards and game covers with deadly effect. He is cordially hated, and justly so, by the farmer and sportsman; and for his many sins he often pays the extreme penalty.".

There is an April 6, record from Figueroa Mountain. There is also an adult bird seen near Twitchell Reservoir 17 July 1985. Twitchell Reservoir is ~ 6 miles northeast of the ranch. Greg Smith had one in his yard in SLO county May 8, 2007. I had my camera with me but I did not get a picture. I was initially 8 feet away from the bird. The bird was huge! The grayish underparts and the face pattern were very different from any other accipiter. I watched as the bird flew off fast east. The long and big tail was noticeable. I got to see the steel blue-gray back. The pattern of flight was very different also. with short bursts of flying and alternating short and long glides. An awesome bird-human experience. That got my blood stirring! This ended a week in which I got another yard bird. Thursday I saw a hummingbird getting pollen out of some flowers. I got closer and with my binocs I saw purple throat, I initially thought about Black-chinned but then I heard it and got better looks it was a Calliope Hummingbird.

Fork-tailed Fly in California

In mid-December 2006 I took a picture of a black-headed flycatcher type bird the back was gray and the tail was forked. I now think it was a Fork-tailed Flycatcher! Duh!

It looked like this:

http://www.riograndedeltaaudubon.org/Images/Flycatcher_Fork-tailed_Sig6.jpg .

http://www.ctbirding.org/images_rare/forktail.jpg .

http://www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/photos.asp?image=bird067.jpg .

http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/wb/v25n03/p0113-p0127.pdf .

Fork-tailed Flycatcher

Synonym—Milvulus tyrannus.

Status—Toppan (Orn. & Ool., ix, 1884, p. 48) states: "I have lately received from a dealer in California curiosities at Santa Monica, Cal., a fine specimen of the Fork-tailed Flycatcher, (Milvulus tyrannus,) which was shot near that place in the latter part of the Summer of 1883". The circumstances of capture are not definitely attested. Mr. Toppan writes me under date of April 18, 1912, that the specimen in question was destroyed by fire in 1896. The species belongs to Tropical America, from southern Mexico southward, but has occurred casually in the eastern United States.

Fork-tailed Flycatcher. I have lately received from a dealer in California curiosities at Santa Monica, Cal., a fine specimen of the Fork-tailed Flycatcher, (Milvulus tyrannnt,) which was shot near that place in the latter part of the Summer of 1883. Knowing that this bird is of comparatively rare occurrence in the United States and especially in the western parts (where I have never seen any record of it heretofore,) I thought you might consider it worthy of a note in the O. and O.—G. L. Toppan, Chicago, Ill. G. = George.

There is another California record from 2006 , September 28, 2006 near Yuba City Sutter County. (T. s. monachus?) The first accepted record was from 4-8 Sep. 1982 in Sonoma County (nominate?) .

Mr. And Mrs. John Brickner are among the best known of the first settlers of Santa Monica, and have seen it grow from a four-corner hamlet to the present thrifty proportions of a thriving and promising city. Mr. Brickner is a native of Germany and was born near Berlin, January 3rd, 1835. He there spent the earlier years of his life and in 1875 married Miss Augusta Court, a maiden of sixteen years. They almost immediately came to America, landing in New York and made their way westward to San Francisco, thence to Los Angeles, where they remained one month. On September 16th, 1875 they came to Santa Monica and cast their fortunes with the then new and wholly undeveloped seaside city, where they made some substantial investments, which, with the somewhat sudden rise and subsequent fall of the town finally terminated in heavy losses. Later they opened the first store for the sale of curios in Santa Monica,which is said to have been the first store in this line in Southern California.

Mr. Brickner relates interesting stories of his hunting expeditions, notably duck hunting on the lagoons of what is now Playa del Rey, and likewise where the canal city of Venice now stands. This he pursued in a business-like manner and made it quite a source of revenue, finding ready market for his game in Los Angeles. Mrs. Brickner took up the curing of the plumage of the many fine specimens of these birds and became a somewhat expert taxidermist. The work was placed on exhibition with the Agricultural Association of Southern California, then the leading institution of its kind in Southern California, and received diplomas and cash premiums for superior excellence. They have been continuously in business in Santa Monica since they arrived here and were for eighteen years on Utah Avenue, between Second and Third Streets. In March. 1907, they removed their store to No. 210 Third Street, where they have one of the most complete stock of curios, notions and furnishing goods in the city.

Mr. and Mrs. Brickner are widely known and highly esteemed for their splendid traits of character and strict integrity in all matters.

Final report of the California World's Fair Commission: By California World's Fair Commission (1894)

Brickner, Mrs. J Santa Monica... Stuffed birds.

Lee Chambers: Hunters in Southern California Condor v. 38 1936 Sep/Oct

One of the outstanding spots in my memory was the taxidermy establishment of Mr. and Mrs. John Brickner. Along in the middle 1890’s they sold enormous quantities of small mounted birds for millinery purposes. Hummingbirds were very common throughout this section and the Brickners caught most of their hummers by netting them. With Mrs. Brickner’s unusual skill as a taxidermist, these gorgeous birds were beautifully mounted on long stickpins or on wires. It was common to see hundreds of these mounts pinned on a large slab of redwood bark, so lifelike they seemed about to fly away. I remember one lady in Santa Monica who had a quantity of these beautifully creatures pinned on her hat.

My picture here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lawofficeofmarkbrown/MarkSBirds#5490369519574600946 .

http://picasaweb.google.com/lawofficeofmarkbrown/MarkSBirds#5490369516787245410 .

http://picasaweb.google.com/lawofficeofmarkbrown/MarkSBirds#5490369523016058354 .

It does not have too pale a neck so is probably a T. s. savanna the nominate subspecies. Zimmer 1937 says that young birds prior to their first molt have a light buffy wash on the underparts. This bird has that. The back is gray but with a brown wash like a young bird. Remember the retrix molt always remember the retrix molt. The one side of the tail is slightly longer than the other. I have one problem I do not remember this bird. I know the photos are named DSCF6470 and DSCF6472 and DSCF6473 they are dated December 15 2006. Dang I wish I had kept DSCF6471!!! The trees looks like to me either Waller Park or Preisker Park?