Crow Berries
Burrowing Owl Update Below
The Toyon’s berries (“pomes”) draw several kinds of birds in different ways.
The House Finch, as we saw, (“Berry Feast,” Nov. 2 2022) crushes the berries, spits out or shakes off the skin and flesh, and eats only the tiny seeds inside.
This American Crow just pops the whole berry down the hatch without any processing.
The finch fed on quite a few of the berries, making a regular meal of them.
The crow snagged a few here, a couple more at another branch, all amounting to a casual snack.
The Toyon grows in the Native Plant Area, toward the south side of the wooded portion, just west of the stand of Monterey Pines. When it’s loaded with berries, as it is now, you can’t miss it. It’s a beautiful tree to watch and it can reward the photographer with bird action.
Burrowing Owl Update
The Burrowing Owl that we last saw on Nov. 12 was back this morning on the perch where you can see the top of its head from the paved perimeter trail. Note once again the different size pupils between the eye that’s in the light and the eye that’s in the shade. Humans can’t do that!
