American Kestrels

Dino has been working on the beginnings of a project to set up and monitor nesting boxes for American Kestrels.  He came up with the idea after reading an article in the most recent issue of Birding magazine, published by the American Birding Association, about the population decline of these birds, and after attending two presentations by Steve Simmons, who is a master bird bander.  The data from the Audubon Society's raptor run were presented to Steve, who noticed that no kestrels were observed during nesting season in the grasslands.  That pointed out the necessity of taking action and providing nest boxes for the birds in the area.

In addition to banding the birds, Steve also has built thousands of nest boxes and monitored the nests over the course of many years.  He's done this not just for kestrels, but also for barn owls, western bluebirds and tree swallows. 

This last Monday, Steve and Dino paired up and visited several areas where kestrels have been spotted and counted during the local Audubon Society's raptor runs.  They captured a kestrel, and Steve banded that bird.  To capture the birds, Steve uses a mouse as bait - but don't worry, the mouse is not harmed.  Instead, the mouse is safely ensconced in a wire mesh trap to which have been attached a number of small nylon loops (think fishing line).  When the kestrel swoops down to grab the mouse, instead the bird becomes entangled in one of the loops. 

The loop is then carefully removed from the bird's foot and the band attached.

Dino says that in this picture he is grinning internally.

Lunar Eclipse Saturday Morning

We both got up early on Saturday to see the lunar eclipse. We had a good view from 4:45 when it started till about 6:30 when clouds and the sunrise covered everything up.  Dino contributed the three shots on the bottom right - he did a much better job of capturing the interesting reddish color as the eclipse neared totality.

Acorn Time

We've been busy planting.  A while back, I ordered a bunch of wildflower seeds and spent some time over the Thanksgiving weekend getting those planted.  It was pretty easy, since the seeds were ones that I specifically know grow in this area (but not in our garden areas) and all they required was a general cleanup, some loosening of the dirt and a good mix-in with some compost.  Followed all that with a nice squirt with the hose and hopeful finger-crossing. 

Last weekend, Dino enlisted my assistance in planting some blue oak acorns in the area just below his big shop building.  I did actually do some digging, really I did, after I got the photos taken.