[EBB Sightings] Yellow-billed magpies & great horned owls, Ohlone College - Fremont

Late today, I visited Ohlone College on Mission Boulevard about a mile south of I-680 in Fremont. The white-flowering fruit trees are in bloom now, a pretty sight. Yellow-billed magpies chattered and hopped around on the hillside by the road above the pond at the top of the campus. A red-shouldered hawk didn't bother to move from its perch on a branch beside the road as I passed. An inordinate number of European starlings were all over the place. One was doing an impressive series of impressions - quail, cat, red-tailed hawk - from a perch atop a lightpost.  A couple of years ago, I noticed that a single acorn woodpecker had moved into the palm bosque; today, a small flock of busy acorn woodpeckers was flying from palm to palm.  A great-horned owl cracked an eye open to appraise me from its roost in one of the palms. A year or two ago, I found three great horned owl fledglings out on a limb on that same palm.  Tonight at Magic Hour in the brush by the
 small pond across the parking lot from the swimming pool, I found a golden-lit fox sparrow, a spotted towhee, a northern flicker, and two deer, among others.  The bright setting sun framed a red-tailed hawk on an electrical tower. On my way back to the car, I passed through the palm bosque again about ten minutes after sunset.  The great-horned owl was now wide awake and out on a palm frond, hooting to an unseen but answering companion/mate somewhere up the hill.  I added a few hoots to the mix, and she readily answered me as well.


Stephanie Floyd
Fremont

Location:     Ohlone College
Observation date:     2/1/09
Number of species:     31