Sprung
(Burrowing Owl Update Below)
Spring has unofficially sprung when this ornamental cherry tree on the south side of the park goes into bloom. Walking along the perimeter trail parallel to Spinnaker Way, you can’t miss this spectacular show-off. It puts on a gorgeous display reliably every year. Here are a few more details:
Burrowing Owl Update
At about 9 this morning, the Burrowing Owl in the park stood at Perch B, much to the pleasure of two old-time visitors whose time in the park dates to the dump days, but who had never seen a live Burrowing Owl before. During our visit, the owl spotted something over its shoulder to the south that caused it to take flight. It jumped and flapped vertically in the air, out of the camera frame, and came down again a second or two later, a few inches north of its former position. There was a sharp transformation in its appearance. Before it jumped up, it looked like a feathered teddy bear, round and plump and sweet. It came down seconds later a lean and mean raptor, ready to take on any menace. Shortly thereafter it made another adjustment, stepping into a spot that gave it a lower profile. At that point a park visitor had to be quite tall to see more than the top of its head. I changed angles to get a better picture, and saw that the bird had settled down, was letting its eyelids droop, and taking occasional short owl-naps.
As in some previous instances where the owl displayed alarm, I could not tell what had spooked the bird. I have neither the owl’s sharp vision nor its field of view from its perch. Whatever it was in this case, it was not a tenacious threat. Seconds after the bird’s panicked leap, it landed again in the same area, and soon resumed its usual relaxed routine. We may be seeing the beginnings of what the ornithologists call Zugunruhe, a restlessness that precedes migration.
every YEAR!!!!!!