[EBB Sightings] father's milk and other musings

Debbie and all.
  The last time I was up at Sibley was about a month
ago, early on a Saturday morning. The overcast was low
and thick, so I couldn't really see the nest--other
than vague dark shapes--from the normal viewing site
(across from the speed sign). I heard and saw no eagle
activity. 
  I reported seeing an eagle in the nest some months
ago. I thought it meant that, in spite of what I had
heard from another birder--that goldens only raise a
brood every other year--they were indeed going to have
a family again. Now I have the feeling that the other
person was right, but I haven't really been keeping
track.
  Because my last visit was so early on a Saturday,
there was no construction going on and thus no noise.
Someone should probably make a concerted effort to try
to see if the eagles are indeed still around or if
they have indeed been scared away by the construction.
If that seems the case, then we'd all better be
putting pressure on EBMUD. Maybe even contacting state
wildlife folks?
Take care, all.
Alan Howe
Oakland

--- Debbie Viess  wrote:

> A pair of mourning doves chose a nest site in our
> front yard that was
> well situated for observation: in a large spruce, a
> former Xmas tree,
> directly opposite our picture window. It has been
> awkward, to say the
> least, since looking out the window provides
> immediate eye contact with
> the beleaguered birds. On the other hand, I have
> finally had the
> opportunity to observe the phenomenon of doves and
> their crop milk.
> About a week ago, I observed the male (the parents
> set constantly on the
> nest, with the male taking the day shift) with his
> neck arched and his
> beak touching the nest bottom; muscular ripples
> along his throat
> indicated some type of peristalsis occurring. The
> newly emergent chicks
> (only two are produced) were too tiny to observe,
> but this was obviously
> a lactating dad! Freshly pipped eggshells on the
> ground lent credence to
> this theory. Yesterday, the chicks were large enough
> to clearly observe
> as they fed. To produce such a rich milk, I wonder
> if Dad feeds at
> night, post-shift, or if he merely stores up fat
> beforehand for the two
> weeks of nest-duty between hatching and fledging? 
>  
> I have two other bird-related queries.has anyone
> else been seeing an
> increase in numbers of hairy woodpeckers in the East
> Bay? In Huckleberry
> Preserve, where I normally would see Nuttall's
> woodpeckers, I am now
> only seeing and hearing hairy woodpeckers. Coupled
> with increased
> numbers of  pileated woodpecker sightings by
> reputable observers in the
> same general area, it seems to me that there is
> currently a local influx
> of larger than average woodpeckers. 
>  
> My last question to EBBers is in regard to the
> Sibley eagles. Postings
> on their nest status have been conspicuous by their
> absence. Did they
> abandon their nest, the heavy machinery and
> increased human activity at
> Round Top the final straw? Or are observers merely
> keeping mum? I have
> been seeing no eagles in the last couple of months,
> from the
> across-canyon vantage point of Huckleberry Preserve.
> If indeed the
> disturbance caused them to abandon their nest, then
> the argument by the
> EBRPD that the disturbance from building an
> ill-advised 200 person
> campsite at Sibley would be negligible to these
> "habituated" birds is
> patently false.
>  
> Private or public reponses are welcomed.
>  
> Debbie Viess
> Oakland, CA
>  
> 


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