I’ve been a bit under the weather the past few days, but I still managed to have a nice, relaxing weekend. I stayed home and rested Saturday morning while Mary was out hiking. In the afternoon we visited Don Edwards to see some wildlife. There are a lot of nesting shorebirds there again, which is really great. We really enjoy seeing the American avocets and black-necked stilts. We’re hoping to see some chicks running around there soon. We have seen quite a few duckling and gosling and some killdeer eggs. There are also at least a couple of barn owlets in the next box near the education center. We saw this fairly bold squirrel (picture on right) on the boardwalk around Chicago Marsh.

In our explorations near by Don Edwards, we’ve encountered numerous burrowing owls, especially at the so-called “magic fence”. Click the picture on the right for more pictures of the burrowing owls. Yesterday we made a very odd discovery near the “magic fence”. While watching the owls, we notices a pure white bunny that was obviously out of place. Apparently it has escaped from its home and is making a living here. We saw it again on Sunday. We were thinking about trying to catch it, but Sunday evening we saw some people out there trying to get it back home. Hopefully they were successful.

The climax of the weekend was learning about a pair of bald eagles nesting near the Calaveras Reservoir. We went to investigate and it turned out to be true. They have a huge nest up in a transmission tower right next to the reservoir. Mary and I watched them for nearly two hours, and met some really nice people there to see the eagles as well. Mary and I always think we have to go way up to Northern California to see bald eagles. It was quite a nice surprise to learn of a pair nesting successfully so near by. Hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to witness the eaglets before they get too big and fly off to parts unknown.

The San Jose peregrines are doing well. Only three of the four eggs hatched, but so far those three are doing quite well. They and their parents, Clara and Carlos, are bringing much joy to the hundreds of people watching their web cam. I’m looking forward to watching them fledge and explore downtown San Jose in a month or so.