Owling
Sun, 18 Nov 2001 11:27:43 PST
From Jim Tietz
Hi-
I went owling in Redwood Regional Park from 6 to 7:30. I hiked the East Ridge from Skyline Gate. I found 1 Great Horned Owl and one small owl that I believe to be a Northern Saw-whet Owl. I heard the Great Horned Owl hooting a deep 4-noted hoot about a quarter mile from the Skyline Gate. It was a ways off to the north-east. The place where I encountered all the Saw-whets in years past and the owl I found this year is a little further on between the Eucalyptus Trail and the Phillip's Loop trail. Just past the Eucalyptus Trail turn-off is a park bench that overlooks a clearing on the west side of the trail. Continue down the East Ridge Trail 30 more meters to where it makes a sweeping turn to the right. There will be live oaks on the left here and Monterey Pines on the right. The owl last night was in the first few oaks. I whistled the typical territorial call of several repeated high hoots. It responded with a call that I am unfamiliar with, a few double-noted nasal barks. The double-note barks were more spaced apart and distinct than the similar call that Screech-Owl makes that I am familiar with. It then flew out and around my legs and back into the trees. It was a small short-tailed owl, possibly too small for screech, but I can't rule it out. I could not find the bird perched as it wouldn't perch in the open. I whistled a few more times and it gave a few single nasal barks and then I didn't hear it anymore and so I left it alone. There was no spontaneous hooting last night from Saw-whets like I heard in the past. Perhaps the Saw-whet migration was earlier this year and the owls have already staked out their territories. On the Farallons this fall we found 3 Saw-whets during the last week of September and the first week of October.
Jim
Re: Northern Saw-whet Owls
Sun, 18 Nov 2001 11:53:31 PST
From: Jim Tietz
Hi again-
I just re-read the message that I originally posted last April 24th on owling in Redwood Regional Park. I stated that we had walked the West Ridge Trail, but in fact it was the East Ridge Trail. Sorry for the confusion.
Jim
Original Message Subject Index
Phainopepla in Del Valle Regional Park
Sun, 18 Nov 2001 18:12:58 -0800
From: Akira So
Today (Nov 18, Sunday) in the afternoon I decided to check out the north end of Del Valle Regional Park [near Livermore] for the first time. I was rewarded with good views of a female/juvenile Phainopepla at an oak treetop.
(Park at the Arroyo Del Valle Staging Area which is at the south end of Arroyo Rd, near the dam. Start the hike on East Shore Trail, cross the bridge over creek, then go up the hill halfway up. The Phainopepla was seen on an oak (I think it's oak - I wish I were a better botanist) treetop between the trail and the neighboring golf course to the north.)
Also, on the way there, a few miles away, in the small golf course pond along Arroyo Rd, across from Sycamore Grove Park were 20 beautiful Hooded Mergansers.
Akira
Pleasanton, CA