Bluebird babies in Berkeley?
By Janet Byron
Yes! At least three pairs of Western Bluebirds are currently nesting in Berkeley, to the surprise and delight of local bluebird lovers.
Berkeley birder and Golden Gate Bird Alliance birding instructor Rusty Scalf first discovered a pair of Western Bluebirds nesting in San Pablo Park, in West Berkeley, in spring 2008.
“I was stunned,” said Scalf, who in decades of California birding had seen numerous bluebirds in wild meadows and on rural fence posts, but never in urban areas. “The assumption has always been that bluebirds cannot coexist with urban House Sparrows and Starlings, as both compete for next cavities.”
This year, the San Pablo Park pair took up residence on the park’s south side, in a box built by Scalf and placed by the Berkeley Department of Parks in a sycamore tree near Russell Street. The pair had a setback earlier this spring when a House Sparrow destroyed their first clutch, but they moved to a box on San Pablo Park’s north side and are now feeding another clutch of babies.
The second pair moved into a box on a Monterey pine at the corner of Derby and Milvia Streets, also built and placed by Scalf with the blessing of the director of the King Child Development Center. Scalf was tipped off to this pair by birder Joe Eaton, who spotted them foraging around the Berkeley Unified School District playing field nearby this past winter. The young fledged on May 30 or 31 but are still spending time near the nest box.
The Derby/Milvia pair has routinely attracted small groups of fans during busy Tuesday farmers’ markets; the birds don’t seem to mind crowds in the slightest.
The third pair is nesting in a box on the Albany/Berkeley border along a restored section of Codornices Creek between 6th and 8th streets near U.C.’s Albany Village. Members of the Codornices Creek Watershed Council built and installed four bluebird boxes at the site in March.
A pair that nested in a woodpecker hole along Parker Street last year did not return this spring, Scalf noted.
“My hope is that Western Bluebirds can take hold and maintain an urban population in Berkeley,” Scalf said. “What a wonderful addition they are!”
——————————–
Janet Byron is managing editor of the University of California’s California Agriculture journal. She currently leads outings for Greenbelt Alliance, and is a veteran of birding classes taught by Rusty Scalf and Bob Lewis.
Photographer Elaine Miller Bond’s work can be seen at www.elainemillerbond.com.