on the other hand, can do what they want and they look gorgeous whatever they do.
The sycamores in Sunol Park, a bit southeast of us, have this broomish tendency. Their leafy twigs burst out in asterisk explosions, and, as you might guess, leaf out late. The grass there is turning brown already. The sycamores (as sycamores typically do) grow along the creek, which runs pretty much year-round so they have a steady water supply, unlike the grass. They (as sycamores typically do) grow a fine crop of holes, so they house lots of birds: woodpeckers, bluebirds, owls, wrens, titmice, chickadees, swallows, more. Others nest in their branches: there’s an active red-shouldered hawk nest in a sycamore beside a well-traveled footbridge near the visitors’ center, and nesting sparrows, gold- and purple finches, phoebes and flycatchers, crows, jays. I do miss the yellow-billed magpie colony that used to live in the park; they all vanished a few years ago and I don’t know if they died of West Nile virus or just decided to get outta town.
Posted by: Ron Sullivan
1 | By: PSoTD on May 1, 2008 at 02:57 AM
I love Sunol Park, spent many times there. The magpies are gone? I find that very surprising, when we lived in the area they seemed to be expanding their population.
We had a class in high school that would go to Sunol for field trips - Field Biology - and we’d find owl pellets and investigate them to determine what the owls are eating. Sounds gross but was actually really interesting. I think the next time I’m in the Bay Area I’m going to try to save a bit of time to spend at Sunol.