East Bay Parks, Measure W, Briones
Sat, 10 Oct 1998 22:48:12 -0700
From: Lillian T. Fujii
I read with interest, Bill Scoggins' quotation from the Mercury News, especially the Park District's claim that grazing helps grounds squirrels (and hence raptors) and Burrowing Owls. At least through last year, and it probably continues through to this year, the park district has had a program to poison ground squirrels, primarily at the behest of their neighbors who graze cattle on private land. Cattlemen do not like ground squirrels and complain about ground squirrels from district land invade their land.
The park district also used to poison ground squirrels at Arrowhead Marsh (one of the few remaining areas where Burrowing Owls can sometimes be seen). Their method was particularly offensive - the poison was dispensed from boxes that looked like Burrowing Owl nest holes. The poisoning at Arrowhead Marsh has been discontinued, but it created quite a stir at that time.
Today, Steve and I went to Briones in hopes of seeing the sapsucker reported by Alan Kaplan. Instead of seeing a sapsucker at the Acorn Woodpecker site, we were greeted by 500 camping boyscouts (that's what on of the leaders told us), 30 cars and scores of leaders. Of course, the boyscouts will leave. What we found most horrifying was that one of the very large trees (we think cypress) near the granary tree had been cut down, its remains not yet removed. The Acorn Woodpeckers were flying back and forth between the main granary tree and one of the remaining cypress trees, and it once stored an acorn in that cypress. I wrote a letter to the District asking why the tree was cut down and hope I get a response.
This is the latest of numerous park district actions that I have personally found quite annoying. (The district likes to remove Coyote Bush, which I can't understand since it provides cover [for] birds, I and two friends were chased off Briones by a bull this past spring, and so on.)
In any case, in addition to my association with Golden Gate Audubon (which is taking no position on Measure W), we are members of the Regional Parks Association. The Regional Parks Association and several other small conservation organizations have joined together in an effort to defeat Measure W because of dissatisfaction with District Management. If you would like to help or would like information, you can contact the Regional Parks Association at the above address.
Feel free to contact me too. Thank you.
Lillian T. Fujii (510) 236-4167
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Havey Canyon in Wildcat [Canyon Regional Park]
Sun, 11 Oct 1998 08:30:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Peter Rauch
Oct 10, 1998, Havey Canyon, several hundred yards south of junction of Havey Canyon trail with Nimitz Way trail... Bright, noontime, no to little breeze, absolutely pleasant moment...
Sat on trail 25 yards from the only elderberry tree (leafless) in the immediate pasture, and watched bluebirds, Audubon (yellow-rumped) warblers, white-crowned sparrows, and Oregon juncos simultaneously using the tree as a perch from which either to feed or on route from one place to another. These and other individuals were in and out of the many Baccharis bushes as well.
At one point, the half dozen or so individuals perched in the elderberry flew away - looking up, a sharp-shinned hawk had come to circle over the tree a couple times (it had a slightly notched, squared tail (in Peterson Western Birds, it describes the notched tail as on the male, whereas in [National Geographic Society's] Birds of North America it acknowledges the notch but doesn't say it's just in the male; what's the story here?).
Meanwhile, the western meadowlarks were practicing take-offs and landings (they do seem like little low-flying jets as they cruise/glide just off the ground from one spot to the next :>) further up the ridge behind where we were sitting, and an American kestrel flew from a fence post to a nearby snag in a clump of bay trees. The lighting was so good - it was easy to see shapes, markings, coloring.
And, the Acmon blues and Mylitta crescentspots were sipping the Baccharis and clover flowers along the trail edge where we sat.
Oh - on the way up Havey Canyon trail, we found a freshly-dropped afterbirth (cows are calving now) right in the middle of the trail. I wonder if the turkey vultures (which were seen during the hike) found it....
Peter
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Re: East Bay Parks, Measure W, Briones
Sun, 11 Oct 1998 08:44:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Peter Rauch
On Sat, 10 Oct 1998, Lillian T. Fujii wrote:
Today, Steve and I went to Briones in hopes of seeing the sapsucker reported by Alan Kaplan. Instead of seeing a sapsucker at the Acorn Woodpecker site, we were greeted by 500 camping boyscouts (that's what one of the leaders told us), 30 cars and scores of leaders. Of course, the boyscouts will leave.
Lillian, That's what being retired and going during the weekdays is all about - we saw almost no one on the trail during Alan's birding hike :>)
What we found most horrifying was that one of the very large trees (we think cypress) near the granary tree had been cut down, its remains not yet removed.
The tree seemed to be riddled with rot inside the trunk (no reason by itself for cutting it down, but if you're going to allow 500 Scouts to sit under a rotting tree that size, then the reason becomes apparent). I wonder why they didn't make the "picnic" area (the fenced-in area) more to the south, leaving all the cypress trees well outside the picnic area (what's the point of including them, and then having to cut them down for safety reasons!?).... And, I'm sure they could have left some height of trunk safely standing, even if just to rot in its own good time. And, why was it necessary to cut the tree into short pieces? Why not just lave left it as a long lying trunk (I think they cut it down a short chunk at a time, but was that the only technique available, considering that there was no local property at risk?).
Now, for a birding question: How did that red-naped sapsucker find that apple(?) tree? The tree is clearly used by sapsuckers, evidenced by the many many drill holes up and down the trunks; but, if the red-naped sapsucker is so uncommon in the area (in the State?), how did it home in on that tree? It's not like it stands out there among the willows and other creekside vegetation - or does it?
Peter
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