Insane Far Beyond Her Years

Every time I go it's a little bit quieter, but still fun. This morning, not at all early, it was even sunny! The Swainson's Thrushes and Wilson's Warblers were singing and I heard a Black-headed Grosbeak singing, which I did not last time. There was still activity at the Red-breasted Nuthatch nest hole, though I'm not sure what sort of activity, and I saw very likely the same juvenile Spotted Towhee scratching in the road. So nothing especially interesting but an enjoyable morning. ( The list: )

I was tired this morning for no good reason that I can see so I didn't get out to the bench, but I did hang out at the Blue Gum picnic tables for a while. It was such a beautiful day!

I fully expected to be sent on detour on my way up to Inspiration Point this morning. Centennial Drive and Grizzly Peak Boulevard have been closed for holidays involving fireworks for many years, being both the best places to watch from and extremely vulnerable to fire. But although Centennial was posted closed from 5 am this morning to 5 am tomorrow, at 5:30 am I met no impediment. I started down the trail just about sunrise, very windy but clear. Last time I wasn't sure whether EBMUD had mowed or whether the grass had simply dried up, a natural subsidence, but by this morning they had seriously graded the entire fire trail. That largely took care of the ticks and the big cracks in the dry ground that made it tricky to walk with a stick. However it also meant that they had cleared away the fallen tree debris, including the log I've been using as a bench for the last few months. Oh, well. It wasn't an exciting morning but a few cool things happened. As I stood at the top of the slope down to the big oak, a Cooper's Hawk made a pass up the road towards me. There were small birds and a rabbit on the road but they didn't take anything. At the north end of the trail the huge dead tree was temporarily alive with very small birds, Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Pygmy Nuthatches as far as I could tell. I'd never seen it so well-used. ( The list: )

No MacGillivray's. I didn't stay as long as usual, less than three hours, and as always I didn't want to go home, so I parked the EBR Botantic Garden and sat on the bench at the top of the garden for forty minutes or so. My list there was a bit different, as the garden is sheltered and has a creek through it. The Swainson's Thrushes were singing and the American Robins were rushing around presumably feeding families. Right across a lawn from me there was almost certainly a Black-headed Grosbeak nest from all the adult activity. I even heard a Western Bluebird! I haven't had one on Inspiration Trail in some time. ( The list: )

I should do that more often. I drove home the long way, all the way through Tilden and down Spruce, avoiding possible roadblocks.

U and I had our second shift at the ex Alameda Naval Air Station observing the Least Tern colony. By now there are chicks at all stages of development, from a few nests with eggs to full grown birds that appear to be about to go catch their own fish. We could hear the Caspian Terns that nest out on at the shoreline and there were still a few Great Blue Herons standing in the nests in the dead trees to the south, but not much else. Again the Northern Harrier came through, this time taking two terns, and again there was no Wildlife employee on hand to chase her off. Very disheartening. In two weeks we'll take our final shift. Most of the chicks should be flying by then, and then it's goodbye for another year.