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SENTINEL always for the community VOl 19, nO 4
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april 2014
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SPOTLIGHT
Danville State of the Town address and Chamber Awards a memorable event By Denise Rousset
Danville Mayor Robert Storer
On Thursday March 27, the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce held its annual State of the Town luncheon, which also included Chamber awards for Citizen, Business, Employee, and Charitable Organization of the Year. The luncheon was held at Crow Canyon Country Club. After a greeting by Tim White, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager with Heritage Bank and Chairman of the Board of the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce for 2014, Chamber president Shelby McNamara introduced attending dignitaries. After which Bill White from Allstate
ECRWSS
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This is a photo of the Mount Diablo burn area with a fire follower (in this case a fire flower) blooming amidst charred chaparral. The “burn area” is covered in these Fremont’s star lily blooms, the first of many potential fire flowers whose seeds only germinate after a fire. These and more anticipated wildflowers thanks to the fire and now recent rains can be seen on Save Mount Diablo’s Fantastic Fire Followers hike led by botanist Heath Bartosh on Sunday, April 13. For more information visit SaveMountDiablo.org. Photo by Brad Heckaman
Nature’s Vacuum Cleaner enters breeding season in the East Bay By James Hale
With a global occurrence of 11,000,000 square miles, the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), or Turkey Buzzard as it is sometimes called, is a widespread, conspicuous New World vulture that inhabits a variety of open and semi-open habitats, including subtropical forests, shrublands, savannahs, pastures and deserts. A large percentage of the population is migratory, moving from their summer range in southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South America. Locally, many individuals are resident, finding sufficient food in our relatively mild year round climate. The binomial name Cathartes aura is a favorite of mine in that it describes the habits of the Turkey Vulture. Cathartes means “purifier” and is the Latinized form from the Greek kathartes. Aura, the species name, is Latinized from the Native Mexican word for air. Purifier of the air is an
excellent reference to its habit of feeding on carrion. They are natures “vacuum cleaners”, an important role in the ecosystem. Turkey Vulture alludes to the similarity in appearance to the Wild Turkey. The featherless, naked head is an adaptation denying bacteria and parasites sufficient foothold to cause disease. Turkey Vultures are resistant to many diseases, including botulism. Vulture is derived from the Latin word vulturus, meaning “tearer”, a further reference to its feeding habits. Turkey Vultures are not related to the Old World vultures of Europe, Asia, and Africa. They are nearly identical in appearance because of convergent evolution, where natural selection similarly shapes unrelated animals
adapting to the same conditions. Turkey Vultures have excellent eyesight and the keenest sense of smell, able to detect the gases of ethyl mercaptan produced from decaying carrion for miles.
When a supply of food is found, often, large numbers will congregate to consume the bounty. See VULTURES page 15
This month’s Special Sections:
Spring Wellness page 7 Home & Garden page 8-9 Kids Camps page 10