On our last full day in Oakland, we all bid Andrew farewell as he headed off to work. Shawn was taking the day off to spend it with us, so he and I hopped in his car, and we set off for Tilden Park. Tilden Park, over the ridge from Berkeley, is the spot where I became a birdwatcher back in the summer of 1971. What a long time ago!
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| Nuttall's Woodpecker female, Tilden Park. 2026 AI |
Although he was using the mapping feature, we somehow got lost and stopped to regroup at a trail head about a mile north of Grizzly Peak. This spot looked as likely as any, so I suggested we take a walk here and see what we could find. We walked for about half a mile as the warm morning sun filtered through the leaves of eucalyptus and live oaks. We saw a fair number of people, which wasn't surprising. Despite being part of Tilden Park, this trail bordered a tony neighborhood.
We met couples on a morning constitutional, parents pushing a tram and mountain bikers. Meanwhile, the bird action was minimal. A couple times I found a suitable gallery and I pished. My reward was a single Scrub Jay and a couple brown towhees. Thin soup, indeed.
Eventually we got lucky. A woodpecker was tapping on a large eucalyptus about twenty feet above our heads. Finally, we got a look, and it was a Nuttall's female. I hadn't seen this bird in a gazillion years, and I hadn't studied the forest birds before the trip, but still the old squash was able to plumb its depths and come up with Nuttall's. Imagine my pride when, back at the car, the bird book validated my identification. Vanity thy name is Jeffrey.
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| Gray Hairstreak, Alameda, Ca. August, 2026 SKG |
This was about it. But one good bird is better than none, and it was a very pleasant morning walk.
Soon we were back for a quick lunch. Shawn stayed home to catch up with life while Sandra and I headed down to the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary in Alameda.
We timed our arrival to correspond with high tide. Several other birders had the same idea. We were rewarded with a dozen Black Oystercatchers, which was a bird for the trip, but something we used to see back north with some regularity. A chunky black bird with a red pencil for a bill, the oystercatchers stuck around until the tide receded and then flew off. By the way, I'm pretty sure that despite the name, they have never actually caught an oyster. Besides the oystercatchers, it was all the same birds we saw a few days before. So much for high tide.
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| Acmon's Blue, Alameda, AI |
It was a gorgeous afternoon with little wind as Sandra, and I set out upon the trail south of the refuge. As we hadn't seen any butterflies a few days before, or at least that's my excuse, we didn't bring a net. Only a few yards down the trail we found several small butterflies. I got a good look at a blue, which had orange markings on the dorsal hind wings. I left Sandra to watch over the flock by night and high tailed it back to the Mazda for a net.
Of course, by the time I got back only one butterfly remained and it wasn't blue. Sandra pointed it out and suggested that I drop the net over the butterfly. This is sort of like shooting a duck when it is sitting on the water. Although it sounds less sporting, this method is not foolproof. Unless the rim of the net sit seamlessly on the ground, the butterfly may find a gap. And escape! Damn butterflies!
I chose to take a swipe, which is pretty good in this situation, and I had enjoyed a recent success with the buckeye near SLO. Needless to say, I missed. All was not lost, however, because in my absence, schmoopie had taken a picture. It wasn't until we got back to the car and I got a good look that I realized she had taken an excellent picture. Probably the best picture either of us has taken of a wild butterfly this year. Don't you love how my sweetie captured those tails?
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A bit further on, we had a great look at an Anise which fluttered around both of us but never landed such that it could be photographed. And that was about it. I stuck around the patch of weeds that had harbored the blues, but they never came back.
Back at the ranch we sent pictures to Daniel Rubinoff and Cait, both of whom replied Gray Hairstreak, which is expectable at this time of year in Northern California in the weeds. Our consultant, Dr. Rubinoff, noted that it is widely distributed, but a late appearing butterfly, so perhaps we should be looking at the weeds in our own area in the late summer.
This might have been the end of the story, but I had been troubled by the blue. Since he cut his teeth on the Oakland butterflies, I questioned Dr. Rubinoff. He replied that Acmon's was a good choice, but that he was in Panama for the next two weeks at a field station, so he couldn't give my question the full effort that it deserved. Other sources note that in California, Acmon's produces several broods and flies into October. Mid-August is a sweet spot for this gem. It nectars and lays eggs on buckwheats, deerweed and clovers. I cobbled together an AI image of an Ammons like the one ai saw for your pleasure.
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| A moth from Panama courtesy of Dr. Rubinoff |
But for even more pleasure take a gander at the butterfly pics that our hero, D, Rubinoff sent back from Panama!
Jeff
