Alamo • Danville • Blackhawk • Diablo • San Ramon
VALLEY
Inside this month...
THE
SENTINEL always for the community VOl 20, nO 8
August 2015
SPOTLIGHT
East Bay Regional Park District Regional in Nature Activity Guide
Look inside
for this Activity Guide
Rail Fair & Harvest Festival Garin Apple Festival “Skills of the Past”
www.valleysentinel.com
Free Outdoor Movie Plus:
Fishing, Kayaking, Pole Walking, Bird Watching, Volunteer Activities
San Ramon student invited to elite academic congress
... and many more activities in Your Regional Parks!
San Ramon’s Dane Quijano Sur, a rising 12th grade student (IB Diploma Programme) at The Quarry Lane School in Dublin, was a Delegate to the Congress of Future Science and Technology Leaders in Lowell, MA on June 28th - June 30th, 2015. The Congress is an honors-only program for high school students who are passionate about science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). The purpose of this event is to honor, inspire, motivate and direct the top students in the country who aspire to be scientists and technologists, to stay true
ECRWSS
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID DANVILLE, CA PERMIT NO. 70
See DANE page 9
On July 16th, the annual Hot Summer Nights Car Show kicked off in Danville with a particularly hot summer night. Temperatures soaring, families came out to enjoy the wonderful display of vintage autos. Now in its 20th year, the show features hundreds of hot rods and classic cars along Hartz Avenue. If you missed it in July, come down to Town on August 13,from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The evening also features a disc jockey, live music, vendor booths and awards for the favorite collector vehicles.
Peregrine Falcon—Conservation and captive breeding programs have led to the Falcons’ recovery
Postal Customer
By James Hale
Sentinel Newspapers, Inc. 390 Diablo Road, Ste. 145 Danville, CA 94526 925-820-6047
The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) is a large cosmopolitan falcon with superior hunting skills capable of flight exceeding 240 miles per hour. The scientific name peregrinus is Latin for wandering, in reference to its worldwide range. The insidious effects of DDT, a chlorinated hydrocarbon, from 1940s to the 1970s had significant negative impacts on nesting falcons. Bald Eagles, Osprey, Brown Pelicans and other top predator species experienced similar effects from the substance known as DDE, a metabolite of DDT that was produced in the birds’ bodies. DDE became concentrated within food chains causing these species to lay eggs so thin shelled that they broke or otherwise failed to hatch.
2+2
By 1970, researchers knew of only two breeding pairs in California, down from several hundred pairs some 20 years before. The ban on DDT in North America in 1972, followed by intensive conservation and reintroduction efforts, hasbrought about a strong and heartening recovery for all of these species across much of their ranges. All three races of Peregrine Falcons occur in California. Peale’s Peregrine, the Tundra and Anatum races differ mainly in the degree and extent of their markings and coloration. The Anatum race is most commonly seen in California. The adult Anatum’s head is blackish, with a broad
malar eye stripe over a buffy cheek. The belly is often buffy to nearly salmon colored. Juvenile birds are lighter colored, have conspicuous streaking of the under-parts, and appear to be long tailed. They reach sexual maturity at 2-3 years of age. The sexes generally look alike, but the male is 30% smaller and less heavily marked ventrally. The different sizes between the sexes, known assexual dimorphisim, allows the pair of falcons to take a wider variety of prey. During the spring breeding season, Peregrines are quite vocal when “eechup” calls are exchanged between partners and the throaty “kakkak-kak” notes announce the presence of a predator.
The Peregrine is specialized for catching birds, more than any other raptor. It is able to scan the sky for over a mile from a perch for prey or may use speculative flights, taking advantage of the contours of the land hoping to startle a bird into the air. The Peregrine Falcon is most noted for its attacks from a high
This month’s Special Section:
Kids and Teens–Back to School pages 8 - 9
See FALCON page 5