Great gray owl near Fort Klamath.
From Kodachrome by Welles & Welles

An unidentified visitor was the source of evidence that the great gray owl, Scotiaptex n. nebulosa (Forster), ranges within this park. A dead specimen was picked up on the roadway one and one-half miles within the south boundary at about 7:10 a.m. on August 27, 1955. The bird appeared to have been killed by a car. It was prepared as a skeleton, and the specimen (CLNP 657) has been added to the park collection.

The bird was presented to the ranger on duty at the park's South Entrance. He indicated that it should be taken to the Park Naturalist's office at Park Headquarters. There the visitor turned the bird over to Ranger Naturalists Edward A. Burnham and John Mees. The donor was in such a hurry that he departed without having his name and address properly recorded. The ranger naturalists were able to recall that the gentleman was from Monterey, California, and that his name was something like "Gamelin," "Gmelin," "Gambling," or "Gamble." However, a later search of the Monterey telephone directory proved fruitless insofar as locating the man by this name is concerned.

There is little reason to question this record. The visitor appeared to be a reliable person who was well oriented in the park and who, therefore, should have believed correctly that he was inside the park when he found the bird.

The establishment of such a record is not unexpected. The experiences of Ranger Ralph Welles and his wife, Florence, with this bird in the Fort Klamath area have also been reported upon in this issue of Nature Notes from Crater Lake. I have, on numerous occasions during the autumn, heard great gray owls hooting at dawn in the forests near Wood River, south of Fort Klamath. I have seen them several times, although outside the Park, within a mile of the south boundary, along the road to Fort Klamath. However, to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that the species has been recorded within the park.

It is to be hoped that great gray owls will be seen more often within the park, for they would make an interesting addition to our avifauna. In outward appearance, the great gray owl is the largest of the American owls. However, this is deceptive because, in actual body dimensions, it is exceeded by the great horned owl. The seemingly greater size of the great gray owl results from its much fuller feathering and the greater length of its tail. This bird inhabits primarily the northern forests and similar high-mountain forests, such as occur in the High Sierra of Yosemite National Park, where there are few people. In winter, the species may be found in more southerly areas, including Iowa and the Lake States. Individuals seen in such circumstances frequently appear to be quite unafraid in the presence of man.

References

American Ornithologists' Union. 1931. Check-list of North American Birds (4th ed.). Lancaster, Pa., American Ornithologists' Union. xix, 526 pp.

Bent, A. C. 1938. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (Part 2). Washington, D. C., Smithsonian Institution. viii, 482 pp.

Craighead, Frank, and John Craighead. (?)1956. Hawks, Owls and Wildlife. In press. Ca. 468 pp.

Farner, Donald S. 1952. The Birds of Crater Lake National Park. Lawrence, University of Kansas Press. xi, 187 pp.

(Mr. Parker has been Chief Park Naturalist at Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, since December 11, 1955. - -Ed.)