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e Activity Guid UST JULY – AUG
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SENTINEL always for the community VOL 27 NO 7
Regional Trai
September 2021
SPOTLIGHT
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Look inside for the latest Regional in Nature Activity Guide!
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2 Die-off, page Sudden Tree • Addressing es, page 6 vest Activiti • Summer Har g, page 7 ssin Cro il Qua • Big Break 9 e Craft, page • Spiral Snak
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Park Named After Thurgood Marshall Summer Harvest Activities Spiral Snake Craft Summer Stars in Dark Skies Hot-Weather Hiking Tips Plus many more fun activities for kids and families!
Thinking of Volunteering? Just Do It!
On your next visit to Tao House, look for the Ghosts of Tao House posters which invite visitors, hikers, and dog walkers to pull out their phones, scan a QR code, and watch O’Neill’s
Save Mount Diablo was critical to the restoration of peregrine falcons on and around Mount Diablo beginning in 1989. Seth Adams helped bring together and fund a group of keen biologists and volunteers. The three youngsters of the remote nest site spent days together acquainting themselves with aerodynamics. Here, two of the sibs practice the moves of a mid-air exchange of prey, a critical skill all peregrines must master. Photo by Duy Dang. For more See TAO HOUSE 7/21/21, 3:02intricate PM information about the Peregrene Falcon pleaes see story on Page 3. page 4
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The Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) By James M. Hale
The Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) is a stiff-tailed duck from North America. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek oxus for “sharp”, and oura, for “tail”. The specific epithet jamaicensis means “from Jamaica”. Pleistocene fossils of Ruddy Ducks at least eleven thousand years old have been unearthed in California, Oregon, Virginia, Florida, and Illinois. Three subspecies are recognized. The Andean Duck of South America is considered by the American Ornithological Society Society as conspecific. The Ruddy Duck is a small, compact duck with a stout, scoopshaped bill, and long, stiff tails they often hold cocked upward. They have a slightly peaked crown on their head, with short, thick necks. Males have blackish caps that contrast with their bright white cheeks. In spring and summer, males
have rich chestnut plumage and bright, sky blue bills. After molting during fall and winter, male Ruddy Ducks turn grayishbrown above and paler below, with dull gray bills. Females and first-year males are brownish like winter males, however, with a blurry stripe across the cheek patch. In flight, Ruddy Ducks exhibit solid dark wing tops. They are up to seventeen inches in length with a twentyfour inch wingspan, and up to two pounds in weight. Ruddy Ducks are diving ducks that feed most actively at night on aquatic insects and other foods, which explains why one may often see them sleeping during the day, with their head tucked under a wing and tail cocked up. Midge larvae are their favorite food in summer. Seeds and roots of plants that include pondweed,
smartweed, sedges, and grasses are consumed. Mollusks and crustaceans are strained from the muddy bottom with the comb-like lamellae on their bills. Small fish are sometimes eaten. After arriving on their breeding waters, Ruddy Ducks form pair bonds that are established and reinforced w i t h e l a b o ra t e c o u r t s h i p displays. Nest sites are chosen in protective, dense, marsh vegetation over shallow waters. The female constructs a woven platform of grasses, cattails, rushes, and sedges that is anchored to emergent vegetation. She lines the nest with down. Five to fifteen eggs are laid. Occasionally, Ruddy Ducks lay their eggs in other waterbirds’ nests, including those of other female Ruddy ducks. The female incubates
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the eggs for twenty-three to twenty-six days. The hatchlings are precocial, and leave the nest within a day after hatching. They are able to swim and dive immediately, as well as feed themselves. The mother Ruddy Duck tends to her young until their first flight in about six weeks. Southern birds sometimes have two broods in a season. The oldest recorded
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