[EBB Sightings] Sibley Eagle Nest

Happy Sunday, everyone.
  A number of folks have asked me what I know of the
Sibley Golden Eagle Nest--and how to find it. I still
haven't made it up there again to check things out,
but, fortunately, I've saved my directions. I'll add
them at the end of this message.
  Most of my birding the last week or so has been
confined to the back yard. I changed the seed mixture
in my feeder and have noticed a wider variety of
visitors.
  I've got an Oak Titmouse has been showing up fairly
regularly--a backyard first. He/she has been fun to
watch because unlike most other birds, which stick
around the dish until frightened, he/she will pick up
one seed and fly off to a nearby tree or bush to crack
and eat it, then return if the coast is clear.
  Among the other visitors, a number of mourning
doves, including one with a strange bulb on the side
of its head--probably a permanent bad-feather day, but
I'm not sure. It also seems to have feathers missing
or somehow pushed aside on the same side of its head.
I've also noticed that it has an unusual white
marking--like it was side-swiped with a paint brush on
its breast just below the wing (if my memory serves me
well) and its overall color seems a bit browner than
usual.
  Also: scrub jays, house sparrows, house wrens, a
mockingbird or 2, though we don't seem to be in any
mocker's claimed territory--as we were last year, the
occasional mob of wrentits and an Anna's hummer or
two.
  Nothing really unusual, but fun to watch.
Happy birding, all.
Alan Howe
North Oakland

  Here are the Sibley nest directions (written last
year when the nest was busy):

Take the paved road (to the right of the restrooms)
which goes to the top of Round Top. For quite a ways
it will go relatively straight. Once it starts
climbing in earnest, it does an �s� curve, has another
relatively straight stretch and turns 90 degrees to
the left (northwest?). At this turn, you can look
straight ahead to an area of standing snags left from
a fire some years ago. Kestrels and others can
sometimes be seen in these dead trees. (If you walk
across the grassy area toward a fallen log and look
uphill, angling to the left, you can sometimes see one
of the adult eagles perched in a dead tree.)

After the 90-degree turn, the road is again straight
and climbs uphill. Part way up this stretch, you will
walk right under the nest, but it�s pretty well
hidden; you can see the bottom edges if you know where
to look, but it�s not obvious. The road curves to the
right and straightens some and there is a road sign
(facing uphill�away from you) on the left. Pretty much
across from the sign, on the right of the road, there
is a short path leading to a couple of downed trees.

Here it gets tricky. If you stand on one of the logs,
look south (?) maybe 30 degrees to the right of
perpendicular to the logs. You have to look past some
of the nearer trees and across a semi-open area. (If
you�re toward the right end of the log(s), you�ll look
past one sizeable tree on your left and a number to
your right.) The nest is in one of the farther pines
(fir?) up a ways in a major intersection of branches.
It�s easiest to see�and know what you�re seeing�with
binoculars. It can be hard, at first, to distinguish
the dark brown of the adult bird from the
nest�especially if its head is behind one of the
upward-reaching branches/trunk. As the chicks grow,
you�ll sometimes be able to see their light down,
especially when they�re awake and active.

If you�re lucky, one of the adults may swoop in across
the semi-cleared area to your left and up to the nest.
I�ve also seen one fly in from the dead trees down the
slope.

Happy birding, all.
Alan Howe
North Oakland


		
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