Trees and Owl
Planting Native Trees
On Monday the Native Pollinator Project moved into the heavy lifting stage with the planting of native trees that came in 5-gallon containers. Members of Civicorps, the Oakland-based nonprofit service agency, tackled the challenge of setting the young trees into the Native Plant Area ground, which is far from a uniform garden setting. The City of Berkeley provided 14 native trees, consisting of Monterey Cypress and Torrey Pines. The Civicorps crew got half of them established. The remainder will go in next week. Chavez Park Conservancy project leader Bob Huttar supervised the work.
(This post has been updated. The original version mistakenly had the trees donated by the City of Oakland. They are provided by Berkeley.)
Burrowing Owl Update
The Burrowing Owl this morning perched in the same spot as yesterday and the day before. At the time I observed it, the bird appeared calm and alert. Occasionally it opened its eyes wide, then it almost shut its lids as if napping. The most notable difference from yesterday was a loose downy feather on its back, visible when the bird turned to its right.
You can see the owl in this position from the paved trail outside the “art” fence. If you’re walking north, look for the brown “Area Closed” signs on the fence with a photo of the owl. The first such sign marks the spot where you can see the owl down on the rocks to the left of the big fennel bush, outlined against the water.
