January 21, 1947, Beaver Creek School to Bruce (12-mile Swamp) 1440-1545 PST. /// 25 /// SW 8, 400F. Cooper Hawk - 3 seen altogether. One perched on wireline pole in open country. Another circling over a fir forest, and a third flying over a farm house. Flickers fled rapidly from its course of flight. Red-tail Hawk - just one perched in the top of an oak in the open. Sparrow Hawk - several seen on wire lines, etc. One spotted on a fence post, and it had a dead bird in its grip. We gave chase, but it carried the body with it. After a lengthy search on the ground around this sight, we found enough body and wing feathers to determine (inaccurately) that the victim was a male towhee. We found where the bird may have first been attached, for there was just a white-spotted black wing feather, and some scattered breast feathers 20 yards away. About 40 yards away was the final catch, for here were many belly and breast feathers, and even pieces of flesh. The Hawk must have hit with terrific force to rip live flesh loose. Below the perching post were more body feathers and two wing feathers. The hawk seemed to be a female. Flicker s - com on on the ground in all the fields. Saw upwards of 25 in one grassy field that may have been an old pas ture. Long-tailed Jays - quite a few seen in the deciduous brush here and there. Crows - In one small valley we came across a small flight of 50 or so, and there were many, many more on the ground, farther down the valley, in company with a large flock of Brewer Blackbirds. Ravens - a small flock of 7 flew over, near Bellfountain. Robins - common in open fields and pastures. Brewer Blackbirds - in a very large flock with Crows in one open valley. Juncos - everywhere along the fence rows in large and small groups. January 21, 1948, 12-mile Swamp (at Bruce), 1545-1645 PST. Weather as above. Lesser Canada Geese - many small and large flocks of 15 - 30 flying from the foothills to the river. One flock of 150 or so seen on the way to Corv. Cackling Geese - a few flying toward the river with the Lessers. There size difference was quite noticeable. Mallards - Didn't seem to be over 50 of them today, Less than last time. Pintails - about the same as last time (2M and 3F). Didn't county them. Green-winged Teal - seemed even more abundant (700&!) than last time. It is still a thrill to me to hear the whistle of their wings in flight. Shovellers - seemed about as last time, with more males than females. Coots - plentiful. I'd guess there were over 100 of them. Say's Phoebe - A real surprise to see this one. Dave spotted it first on a weed stem about 15" above the ground, and incidently not over 10 feet from where we first saw the Cinnamon Teal a few years ago. It just took a moment to make out it was a flycatcher for it flitted out to take a bug in the air, and again to take one on the ground. We approached closer in order to get the color pattern. Its plain black tail, dark head, and pinkish-tan or buff under colors were unmistakable. We were even fortunate enough to hear its light, plaintive, two-syllable notes, several times during the 20 or 30 minutes that we spent in following it in its feeding activities from perch to perch. These ranged from less than a foot above the ground to scrub ash not over 10 feet up. It gave its call in flight, and on the perch. It fed over land, and over water. It was warm enough today for midges to hatch, and swarms were seen here and there. There was no shortage of food for it, even if it had turned cool by the time we reached the swamp. It posed nicely for us at less than 30 feet several times. Some times it sat quietly, and other times nervously, fanning its tail, etc. It seemed more intent on feeding than it did on evading us, however. Tule Wren - none seen or heard this p.m. Perhaps because of the late time of the day. It was several hours later last week. Pipit - just a single one flew over, so far as I know. Redwings - None at all last week, but this week the air was filled with there varied calls, making this visit seem like old times. Most were males, in full plumage. In one flock of 13, just 4 were females