Brooklyn Basin Osprey Nest

Down along the Oakland "coast" line, there are all sorts of odd little bays and inlets the result of former shipping infrastructure now gone to seed. One such of these is Clinton Basin, a channel by Brooklyn Basin -- a site currently being developed into a large set of condos.

There's a little bit of public shore here, a couple hundred yards of a dead end path surrounded by fences. On the side close to water there is a wall of sweet fennel in the summer. Amid the fennel there is a gate, with a lovely heron sign (with no words) and behind the gate a small little park a bit of shore, a bit of beach. To get to it, you have to go down a driveway labeled private, and one has to be careful about staying there too late (aka anytime past 6).

I've never met a soul there, though there are signs that people light fires there, someone has left some bins full of clothes, and the beach debris trash is occasionally cleaned up (it is sometimes a little overwhelming).

It's a lovely spot to sit and see what comes by, but its main attraction for me has been an Osprey nest that has been there at least the last couple years. Built on a light post -- it's unclear if it will still be there post construction, it was a shipyard of sorts when I first explored the area a few years ago.

This past week was particular fun. The pair hatched one nestling, who has grown rapidly, and seems to call constantly (I have to admit that the sound gets a little grating after awhile). Both adults were present. I've previously seen one adult delivering a lovely large fish after it seemed to have devoured the head.

The adults seemed to play for a little while chasing each other, but the nestling also flew (potentially -- now that I think about it -- the chasing was teaching, and it was one of the parents who remained in the nest?)

One adult was also intent on clearing threats and spent a fair amount of time chasing western gulls about, including one long sneak attack from high. It also noticed me, and came in fairly close to check me out -- such that it was a little disconcerting to be the narrow focus of such a large raptor! I retreated a little up the beach to show my apologies for attracting their attention.

I expect the next time I might go by, they'll be gone, but I hope that I'll see the pair next year. The channel hosts at least one other Osprey nest... amid the a shipping terminal. If you take the ferry across from the Alameda terminal towards San Francisco.

Publicado el julio 8, 2017 07:13 TARDE por adrained adrained

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Águila Pescadora (Pandion haliaetus)

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adrained

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Julio 2, 2017 a las 02:00 TARDE PDT

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