TROCHET, J. 1991 Journal Santa Fea Kern River Wildlife Area, 3 miles W of Weldon, Kern Co., California. Elevation 2500 feet. July 18-21 On July 17, I opened my mist nets at 05:20-05:35 to begin a crazy (cont) busy day. The net in the area with lots of Lawrence's Goldfinches caught ten birds early. One of these escaped from me when I extracted it from the net. Similarly successful were two other nets with regard to Lesser Goldfinches; by 07:40, I had nine putties, too. The remainder of that day, right up to midnight, was devoted to recording and preparing specimens. The weather this morning July 18 from 05:20 & 10:00, was clear & calm, with temp 50°-65°F. July 20 started late since I overslept too dawn. The breezes today came up early, and being variable, it was difficult to place the nets in sites sheltered from them. In contrast to yesterday's too frantic pace, today was very slow. Nets were moved every 3-4 hours throughout the day, again downstreem into usually younger groves of riparian trees. Steve Layman visited in the afternoon. He showed me a cuckoo nest he found in the miniature willow-cottonwood strip near the western limit of the trees. The weather July 20: temp range 55°-85°F, with variable breezes beginning 07:30 and increasing and becoming more consistently westerly after 15:15. A few scattered clouds passed by in the afternoon. A steady 10-15 mph W. wind blew after 15:00 until after sunset. July 21 was a good day, with capture of goldfinches (Lesser) at a steady rate all morning. Recording birds between net visits, I was ready to move for a quick lunch, then to put up birds for the remainder of the day. I was going to return home tonight, but I will sleep tonight in my tent and drive back to Sacramento