Park News 9/6/2024
Getting Ready for the Owls
Every time I walk the park in recent weeks, people have asked me whether the owls have come. I have to explain that the owls — meaning the Burrowing Owls — are “snowbirds,” coming here to escape harsh winter weather in their northern homes. Due to global warming, they’ve been coming later than they used to. In the five years from 2012-2017, the average arrival date was October 11. In the most recent five years, the first owl arrived, on the average, around November 3.
That is, if they come at all. In the winter of 2017-2018, no owls were seen here, none. Last winter (2023-2024), the only owl visit that anyone saw was for a few minutes in dense fog on December 4. I was lucky to catch it on video, here. But one bad winter doesn’t spell the end of owl visits. The winter after 2017, we had more owls visit than ever before — at least ten of them for short stopovers, and two who stayed for the season.
The most important thing is that they need to be safe. We’re just not doing a good job in that area. Like it or not, there’s a minority of dog owners who won’t leash their animals, and loose dogs easily get over or through the “art” fence in the northeast corner. In December 2016, a Burrowing Owl was found killed on the north side, victim of a dog. The next winter, no owls came. In February 2023, the Burrowing Owl that everyone loved suffered a broken wing and disappeared, also a dog victim. No owls came to settle here that winter. If we want owls to spend time here, we have to protect their space.
This fall, the Chavez Park Conservancy is planning to build a temporary fence inside the “art” fence. The new fence will be standard-issue plastic pet fence, four feet high. It’s almost invisible and easy to see through, but it will keep out 99 percent of dogs. We have — or will recruit — volunteers to put it up. A friend of the Conservancy last week made a generous donation in the amount of $3,000 to cover the cost of materials. It will cost the City nothing. As I write this, we are waiting for Bruce Pratt, Parks Superintendent, bpratt@berkeleyca.gov, to greenlight the project.
The fate of Burrowing Owls is becoming more precarious. Currently, they are listed in California as a “species of special concern,” a classification that has done little to protect them. A coalition of conservation groups filed a massively documented petition this past March with the California Fish and Game Commission seeking to upgrade the owls’ status to “endangered” in much of California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, and “threatened” statewide.
Our friends at the Save Mount Diablo organization share our concern with the safety of the beloved Burrowing Owls. Here is a recent article from their website about this issue. Thanks to Susan Black for forwarding this item.
Carol Denney, the versatile humorist/singer/songwriter/activist who is a member of the Conservancy Board of Directors, published this cartoon in her monthly satire broadsheet, Pepper Spray Times. If it takes a double stack of shipping containers to protect People’s Park, maybe the same idea would help the owls here, she suggests. (Just kidding.)
Stilts Still Stalking at Schoolhouse Creek
I was thrilled this week to see the Black-necked Stilts (Himantopus mexicanus) again. I spotted them from Marina Boulevard in my long lens, then hiked over to the Schoolhouse Creek delta to get a closer look. Their pink legs seemed even longer than when I first saw them in the last week of August. The fact that they have stayed in the area this length of time indicates that they’re feeding and feeling safe. They shared the foraging habitat with Willets, Short-billed Dowitchers, and of course Western Gulls. I marvel at how evolution has created creatures with such a variety of features, all thriving in similar settings. There has to be a quantum force at work in the DNA, randomly spawning differences where they aren’t functionally necessary, just for the fun of it. I know Einstein supposedly said, “God doesn’t roll dice,” but I’m not so sure.
Here’s some still shots of these birds:
Sharing the habitat
The excellent Merlin bird ID app identified this bird the first time as a Long-billed Dowitcher, the next time as a Short-billed Dowitcher. Reading further, I learned that the two species are so extremely similar that the clearest way to tell them apart is by their vocalizations. The short-billed sings a melodic “tu,” while the long-billed goes with “keek.” The two that I saw kept silent, so I went with the short-billed on the grounds that it’s more common and tends to prefer saltwater shallows over freshwater. They’ve largely evaded ornithological study by breeding in the most heavily mosquito and black fly infested swamps of Canada.
The Willets have been in very short supply over the summer, but now seem to be back. I saw nearly a dozen of them around the North Basin on my walk. Some of them were probably very recent arrivals. They flushed as I walked past at a normal distance that left habituated birds unruffled.
Gull Wings
The sole survivor of the three gull chicks that were the last to hatch out on the breakwater west of the park has filled out its flight wings and fledged. I saw it stretch and flex early in the week, and then on Thursday the wall was clear of young gulls. Just a few adults and a camp of cormorants as usual. Here’s what the chick looked like before flying off:
No more spotted baby feathers. But this and earlier chicks may very well return. They learn out in the world that feeding themselves can be a lot of work. Pecking at food that the parents bring was so much easier. They can become pesky beggars, and sometimes the parents fall for it.
A Pretty One
Mallards, too, have been scarce over the summer. This week I saw an uncommon sight, a solo female. No male anywhere. I liked the way she lifted her wings just enough to show off her brilliant blue speculum. She probably won’t be solo for long.
Fennel Feeding Time
It happens every autumn. The Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) glows a brilliant yellow, swelling with pollen, and then turns green and darkens as the flowers convert to seed. That starts a months-long free cafeteria for birds and squirrels. This week I filmed an early House Finch female feeding on freshly made seeds, and probably picking off an aphid or two from the stems.
The supply of seeds on the north side of the park is so vast that people can safely take home a small jar for the kitchen. They’re a staple of Mediterranean cuisine, and have good nutritional value.
Two Late Bird Photos
I received these two photos weeks ago but neglected to post them in a timely fashion. I apologize to the contributors. The Black-crowned Night-Heron that photographer Feleciana captured probably nests locally, possibly in one of the cypresses near the hotel. Photographer Susan Black snapped a lovely shot of a Great Egret. It looks like it was contemplating its own reflection in the water, like the mythical Greek pretty boy Narcissus. Thanks to Feleciana and Susan for sharing this work.
Fearless Squirrel
Park visitor Jeannie Kohl shot this classic photo on the west side of the park on August 18. An adult Ground Squirrel, its tail erect in high alert, is about to nip the tail of an adult and equally alert Gopher Snake. Is the squirrel crazy? We have seen suicidal squirrels, like the one that attacked a Red-tailed Hawk (“Crazy Squirrel” Oct 15 2021), only to wind up as the hawk’s dinner a few weeks later (“Red-tail’s Revenge,” Nov 9 2021). But the tussle between squirrels and snakes is calculated and strategic. In the wilderness, these squirrels confront and taunt not only the relatively harmless Gopher Snakes, but also deadly rattlers. They pick up and rub their pups with discarded rattlesnake skins to give them the snake odor, confusing the snake. As they grow up, the squirrels develop immunity to rattlesnake venom. Squirrels gang up on hunting snakes and dance around them, tiring them out. It’s not a game. It’s a serious war. It’s about babies. Snakes can’t eat grownup squirrels but they can eat their pups. Squirrels return the favor; they’re normally vegetarians but they’ll take snake eggs if they can get them. You can read more about it at this earlier post: “Brave Squirrel,” Jun 7 2022. Congratulations to Jeannie for snapping this great nature photo and thanks for sharing it.
Next Issue
Next blog drop, a report on the Sept. 10 meeting where Public Works engineers talk about the upcoming radiation scan of the park. Also, a list of new native pollinator plants we’re going to set in the Native Plant Area in November. Good news on new bird names. A progress report on the landfill gas repair work that BAAQMD has ordered. And a preprint publication of an upcoming scientific journal article about Burrowing Owls in Chavez Park.
Summer Schedule
This post still comes on the Summer Schedule, where posts drop whenever there’s material and motivation, which may be more or less often than the usual regular Friday at 5 pm publication schedule. I’m considering switching to the Summer Schedule year round.
I am so glad there are stilts, they are my favorite shore birds. They used to nest at Aquatic Park for years but the construction drove them out, as well as most of the heron population. A real travesty I think.