Respected Arcadia bird expert and biologist Michael San Miguel, 70, died Wednesday (July 14) after a 300 feet down a ravine north of Altadena, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Michael San Miguel (photo from San Gabriel Valley Tribune)
San Miguel apparently fell down a steep ravine in in the forest near Angeles Crest Highway and Mt. Wilson Red Box Road while counting owls overnight in the Angeles National Forest.
San Miguel was conducting an environmental study on the impact of running Southern California Edison power lines in the area with a colleague when he fell about 8 p.m. while hiking down to a spotted owl’s nest. His colleague found San Miguel injured and hiked out of the ravine to their vehicle to call for help with a satellite phone. But he died before the first rescue teams reached him four hours later.
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Very tragic. Thoughts go out to his family.
Aw hell. I met Miguel some years ago in the field when I was camping way the hell off in the back country far from civilization and, I had thought, far from other people. I told him about the owl attack I had experienced some years prior and he talked about owl behavior enough that I could see he was very knowledgeable.
He died doing what he liked.
Mike and I graduated from Monrovia-Duarte High School together and had maintained a friendship all these years. We had lunch about a year ago to discuss what the dredging behind the Santa anita Dam might do to the bird habitat. A quality guy who will be truly missed.
Too bad – I’m a bird lover – have 5 parrots and have done birdwaking at the Arboretum and Whitter Narrows and Eaton Cyn and enjoy walking and looking at the native birds and we get 30 species whereI live in N. Pas. Sympathy to his family.