[EBB Sightings] Duuuuude, where's my Indian Summer?

Sure seems to me that we are going to have an early winter, what with
our continuing cold temperatures and early rain. Another harbinger of
winter, I saw my first Winter Wren of the season Friday, at Huckleberry
Preserve.  He/she scolded me for walking along "his" path, then jumped
out so that I could get a good look at him: the unremarkable plumage,
small size and stubby erect tail all proclaimed it to be a Winter. As I
watched it in one of the Bay Laurel-choked side canyons along the lower
trail (one that I have given the name Raven's Wood, another story for
another time), my eye was caught by a bit of sunlight-delimited motion
in the gloom.  Sailing up the faint wind current of the canyon was what
I believed to be a leaf. As its motion became more deliberate, I thought
that maybe it was an insect. Once fixed in my Swarovskis, however, I saw
that it was a large, feathery seed, like dandelion fluff on steroids. As
it sparkled its way up the canyon air currents, I observed the fluff
actually swim through the air, its "arms" acting like the cilia of a
paramecium swimming through water. It was the mundane made marvelous. As
I continued through the side-canyon, I saw another winter wren, or
perhaps the same one in a slightly new location. This bird, also
illuminated by a bit of light, showed off the handsome striping along
the edge of its wing; for a winter wren, this is about as good as it
gets.  At one point further along the trail, I glanced across canyon to
Sibley, and noticed a pale snag with an even paler shape at the top of
one of its branches. It was a White-tailed Kite, the first that I had
ever seen in the canyon, although perhaps they are as common as dirt
over at Sibley, where I rarely walk. 

I also walked along the Huckleberry trail with the California Native
Plant Society this week, and they were remarking upon how it didn't seem
to be a very good acorn year (they were seed gathering for a native
plant nursery).  And yet, every jay that I saw (and I was delighted to
see them after my WNV concerns) had a fat acorn in its bill. Perhaps
CNPS should join forces with the local animal foragers, although if
indeed it is a bad year for acorns, competition will be fierce. What
with the birds, squirrels, deer and feral pigs all in competition for a
scarce resource, CNPS doesn't have a chance.

Debbie Viess
Oakland