Burrowing Owls Eschew Albany Habitat at Waterfront

Four years after officials set aside part of the Albany plateau as a potential Burrowing Owl habitat, no sign of the animal has been spotted, according to a new city report.

In 2006, the City Council approved the establishment of a Burrowing Owl habitat on eight acres of plateau at the Albany waterfront, according to a staff report prepared for Wednesday night's .

(The staff report is attached to this story as a PDF.)

In October 2007, the city worked with the East Bay Regional Park District to come up with a plan to prepare the space for owls. 

If none of the animals take up residency at the plateau, the land is set to revert to Park District control in August 2013. (The Park District owns the property.)

Consultants have found that, though the habitat is appropriate for the owls, none have been sighted. The only recommendation they made, according to the staff report, was for more frequent mowing of the land.

The city decided, as part of a five-city consortium with neighboring locales, to set aside the area for owls as a result of construction of a sports field at Gilman Street that could have disturbed existing owl habitat.

The Albany plateau consists of a roughly 21-acre portion of Eastshore State Park, which itself is part of 2,200 acres of San Francisco Bay shoreline between Richmond and Oakland.

The Albany site was deemed appropriate because of its "open contiguous grassland."

According to a 2007 "Memorandum of Agreement" between the city and the Park District, Albany agreed to pay $5,000 per year for five years for Park District maintenance of the area.

A May 2012 report by Avocet Research Associates noted that biologists had monitored the fenced site at three-week intervals from mid-March through early-May in both 2011 and 2012.

"Surveys were conducted from two hours before sunset to one-half hour after or from sunrise to two hours after sunrise and only when weather was conducive to observing owls outside their burrows," according to the report.

"No evidence of owl occupancy was found—no individual birds, no pellets, no burrowing owl feathers—in either year of coverage," said the biologists.

Biologists noted a wide range of other birds in the area: "Rock Pigeon (Columbia livia), Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna), Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus), Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans), Says Phoebe (Sayornis saya), American robin (Turdus migratorius), European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), Yellowrumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata), American Pipit (Anthus rubescens), Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis), House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), Redwinged Blackbird (Agelius phoenicus), Brewer’s Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus), and American goldfinch (Spinus tristis). Several aerial insectivores (Barn, Tree, Violetgreen, Cliff and Northern Rough-winged swallows) were noted foraging over the site. Avian predators observed in the vicinity include: White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus), Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii), Barn Owl (Tyto alba), Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) and Common Raven (Corvus corax)."

Biologists also noted the presence of feral cats and ground squirrels.

The report said several  each winter since 2008. The birds arrive in the fall (August) and leave in the spring (March-April).

Though the owls once bred along the bay shoreline area, they "have been extirpated from almost all habitat bordering (the San Francisco Bay) over the last three decades."

Recent estimates report 167 pairs remaining in the nine Bay Area counties; most are inland.

The biologists noted that "the fact that individuals still winter locally (Caesar Chavez Park) provides the remote possibility that a prospecting pair of owls may occupy the Albany Bulb nest sites in the future. For this to remain a possibility, it is essential that the burrow system be maintained and that the vegetation be mowed regularly, especially early in the growing season (February through early March) when birds may be prospecting."

The Burrowing Owl is described as "a small owl (19.5-25.0 cm, ~150 g), with long slender tarsi covered with short hair-like feathers that terminate in sparse bristles on the feet. The head is rounded, lacks ear tufts, and is chocolate in color with white streaking or spotting. There are buffy-white margins around the eyes and a white throat patch. Eyes are lemonyellow and the beak is pale horn-colored."

Read more about the Albany waterfront here.

If there's something in this article you think , or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at albany@patch.com.