[EBB Sightings] Burrowing Owls in Dublin

Since there seems to be a lot of interest in the Burrowing Owls in Dublin I thought I'd mention that I know of four (4) active nest burrows in the area. All are easily seen from a vehicle and seem to have produced young this season.  This evening between 6:30 and 7:00PM I did a quick census to see how many I could at one time.

1.  Tassajara Blvd and Northside DR (100 meters south of Tassajara and Dublin Blvd). This is the dead-end access road along 580.  There were 6 owls here along the fence line here. One of the owls routinely perches very high on a horizontal power line and can be seen from 580.

2. Tassajarra Blvd and Dublin Blvd.  This is the frequently mentioned site near the cross-walk sign.  There were 3 birds here.

3.  Arnold road just north of Dublin Blvd (the field west of Sybase).  There were 8 owls here that were really putting on a show!  The 6 fledgings were all above ground on a concrete slab exercising their wings.  They would hop up into the stiff breeze and hover there for a while before before (not-so-gracefully) returning to the ground.

4.  Dublin Blvd ~100 meters east of Iron Horse Pkwy.  The nest sight is on the north side of the large, diagonal ditch.  There is no place to park so this was a drive-by count.  Nonetheless, there were 3 birds easily seen.  They often perch on the barbed-wire fence.

SO...20 owls in 30 minutes.  Not bad.  Perhaps Brian Zeiler or Mary will get some pictures of some of the youngsters???????

David Bowden
Dublin, CA



From: Mary McCanta 
Subject: [EBB Sightings] Burrowing Owls in Dublin
Hi East Bay Birders,

I just wanted to thank Brian Zeiler for posting directions to the
burrowing owl he has been watching at the intersection of Tassajara
Road and Dublin Road in Dublin. We finally went out there this
afternoon to check them out (arrived around 230pm). Just as he said,
the owl was plainly visible at the northeast corner of the intersection,
sitting on a post between the "Walk" signal and the empty field.

After watching for a short while we realized that there were actually
TWO owls there and they have a nest in that little triangle of land. We
briefly saw the head of a third owl in the grass near the burrow but
didn't get a great view of it since we were staying in the "car blind".
Presumably they have a nestling or two there. They were very protective
of the site and several pedestrians (particularly one with a dog on a
leash) stirred the owls into a hovering shriek attack. The button to
trigger the walk signal at that corner is only a few feet from their
burrow so people weren't intentionally disturbing the owls, but the
proximity obviously agitated them.

The empty field they are nesting by has a huge housing development on
one side and a mall across the street so I'm afraid these owls will not
be able to use this site for many more years. In fact, I would expect
another development on that field any time now. Anyway, there is good
viewing from the car if you take a right on Dublin Road at Tassajara and
flip a u-turn to come back along the owls' side of the street at the
corner. They were watchful of us in the car but it did not stir them to
action like the pedestrians did.

Here are a couple pictures we took. I'll try to get more on my regular
website tomorrow. http://www.californiabirder.com/owls/

Good birding!
Mary and Holly>>>