Park News 10/25/2024
Owl Here Again
Nobody, myself included, saw an owl yesterday (Thursday Oct 24). But this morning, an owl was present, crouched very low at Perch B on the rip-rap in the southern half of the Burrowing Owl Sanctuary. If you did not know that this was a spot that several owls have favored in recent years, you would never notice this bird. As the beginning of the video shows, the owl peeked over the rocks in front of it, with just the top of its head visible. Without optical help, I would not have seen the bird at all.
Is this a new owl or the Wednesday owl on a return visit? I can’t be sure but I’m going to venture that it’s the Wednesday owl back. I’m basing this on the pattern of horizontal stripes that both owls display on their left breasts. Owls have unique patterns of dots and stripes. Until Silicon Valley’s AI mavens get it together to make an app that clearly identifies owl plumage patterns, educated guesswork is the best we can do.
My video features the moments when the owl was actively scanning around itself, including its looks in the direction of the camera. Actually, during the 45 minutes or so that I watched the owl, it mostly dozed with its eyelids almost or completely closed. That doesn’t make very interesting video. But it helps solve the riddle whether these owls are nocturnal, like most owls, or diurnal, like most songbirds. The emerging answer is, neither. Burrowing Owls are cathemeral, meaning that they meet their biological need for sleep in the form of brief naps at any time.
Protect the Owls, It’s the Law
After five years of efforts to persuade the city to replace or improve or back up the “artistic” fence around the Burrowing Owl Sanctuary, the Chavez Park Conservancy has called in reinforcements in the form of Berkeley’s Greenfire law firm. Here is a letter that these specialists in environmental law fired off yesterday to the city’s parks management.
More Loose Dogs
Here are some of the unlawfully off-leash dogs I saw during my park visits on Oct 23-25. Three of these passed directly in front of the seasonal Burrowing Owl Sanctuary.
Summer Schedule
This blog is switching to Summer Schedule year round. That means posts will drop whenever there’s material and motivation, which may be more or less often than the usual former Friday at 5 pm publication schedule.
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Yes! The city has absolutely nothing to lose through volunteers putting up a temporary fence each season. I cannot wrap my head around why they would reject such an easy and logical proposal. I hope this legally curated letter changes some minds. Thanks for all you do, Marty.
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I used to regularly see 6 Owls until Audubon made the ridiculous “sanctuary” and covered two of their burrows. The increase in dogs and less of the protector California Ground Squirrels meant more murdered Owls.
Thank you so much for trying. Last time I was there, I saw one Owl and many dogs off leash. Dog owners have access to most parks in the Bay Area, so why not ban them completely from Cesar Chavez Park, finally? At the very least, someone should be there who would ticket the owners of off leash dogs. Make it a high price, which would pay for the ranger or whoever gives out the tickets. No more excuses or warnings. It’s been years and they have basically destroyed the Owls in that park. Please….
I was quite disappointed by the new City Manager’s recent rather dismissive response to the Park Conservancy’s proposal to provide temporary seasonal fencing to protect the burrowing owls’ habitat from off leash dogs. I walk several times a week at Caesar Chavez park and was lucky enough to see one owl once in its habitat area.
Kudos to the Park Conservancy for taking this issue another step. I look forward to the city manager’s response.
Best regards,
Carole
40+ years Berkeley resident