Birding in Baja: two sorts of tails

Birding in Baja: two sorts of tails

When I first heard about the Golden Gate Bird Alliance trip to Southern Baja, I was tempted by the variety it offered—not only in the different sorts of habitat we’d be visiting there, but in the variety of bird species that would be present, and the opportunity to see California Gray Whales at their breeding grounds. Birds and whales—what could be better?
Shakespeare’s Birds Walk & Talk

Shakespeare’s Birds Walk & Talk

By Mary Ann Koory

In 2010, Linda Swanson, I, and friends attended a thrilling CalShakes production of Macbeth in Orinda.  As we took our seats, twilight filling the bowl of the Bruns Amphitheater, Linda said, “Did you hear that?”  As a non-birder I am used to Linda noticing the presence of birds no matter where we are.  Perhaps your friends have remarked on the same thing about you.  It’s as if there is another world co-existing with our ordinary, urban world, one that we non-birders are only intermittently aware. I looked up from setting out cheese and crackers and listened. A Great Horned Owl hooted.

Great Horned Owl by Doug Mosher

In about 15 minutes, Lady Macbeth would pace across the stage, waiting for her husband to say that he had stabbed King Duncan. As she waits, she hears a noise – but it’s not Macbeth. “Hark! Peace!/It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman . . .” (2.2.3-4) she says to herself. The sound of the owl reminds Lady Macbeth of the bell that rang in Renaissance towns to announce a death.  She, waiting for news of a murder that violates social connections, hears the owl calling like the bell that signals a community to pause and mourn the loss of a neighbor.

Most of us have no idea what a “fatal bellman” is without a footnote. Over 400 years separate us from Shakespeare, the customs of rural England, and the commercial theaters of London. But when the actress spoke Shakespeare’s words, her voice, the sounds of a Great Horned Owl in the 21st-century Orinda twilight, the play-acted owl outside a castle in medieval Scotland, the “shriek” described by a 16th-century playwright for his rowdy city audiences, and the solemn tone of a church bell in Renaissance England all resonated together in the same moment.

Linda and I, both English teachers, were enchanted by the way the imaginary and the real owl connected us to Shakespeare and our world to Shakespeare’s natural world. Since then, Lesley and Bob Currier at Marin Shakespeare Company in San Rafael have given us the opportunity to explore connections between the metaphorical birds that appear in Shakespeare’s plays and the literal birds that appear here in California where his plays are performed.  Since 2013, Linda has led a bird walk through the lovely Dominican University campus where Marin Shakespeare’s Forest Meadows Amphitheater is located, afterwards I, over dinner in the Amphitheater, talk about the birds that will appear in the Shakespeare production that follows.…

Barn Owl Boxes in Bay Area Parks

Barn Owl Boxes in Bay Area Parks

By Max Lee

For my Eagle Scout project, I built twelve nest boxes for Barn Owls. These boxes (designed by Steve Simmons) are made to have draining holes at the bottom to prevent flooding, top and side hinges to make the boxes easy to open and clean, and a specially sized entrance hole to prevent Barn Owl predators from entering the box.

By installing these boxes in appropriate areas, I will help support the local Barn Owl population by providing the owls with homes safe from predators, while also controlling the rodent population. The Barn Owls will hunt and kill rats at a higher rate due to their increased numbers. The owls ensure there will be less rodents in the area, which will help the overall community, as rats are known to infest homes and buildings, causing damage to infrastructure, stealing food, and spreading diseases.

While I greatly enjoyed the project there were a few setbacks, most of which were minor if not comically trivial. I did have a very hard time finding an appropriate and approved location to install the nest boxes. The site had to have an open field for the Barn Owls to hunt in and also needed trees surrounding the area. The first site we looked at was in Point Molate, but later that site was rejected because it had hazardous conditions and a development was being planned. A site in Albany was approved but did not have a grassy field. Also, the sites needed to be away from freeway entrances and trains which could be a danger to the owls.

While searching for an appropriate site, I built a prototype box with Phil Chin, my troop member’s father, and continued to look for places to put the nest boxes after the Point Molate site was rejected.

Several sites were approved, including Golden Gate Park (San Francisco), Anthony Chabot Regional Park Skyline Ranch Equestrian Center (Oakland), and JFK Park, Booker T. Anderson Park, Hilltop Green, and Hilltop Park (all in Richmond). I scouted the Richmond sites with Mark Maltagliati and Chris Womack was the contact for Golden Gate Park. I did not scout Anthony Chabot Regional Skyline Ranch Equestrian Center with Judie Martin because she had already picked out a location in a barn.

I separated the building of the boxes into two phases. The majority of the work was done with my Eagle Project Coach, Mr.…