Valley Wilds November 2014 Volume 23 Issue 11 Vulture Culture You re dying of thirst and getting wearier with every step. The sun is baking your back and there s no end to your journey in sight. The buzzards begin to circle overhead, getting lower and lower as you slowly meet your demise... Well, actually, you re only a mile or two into Sycamore Grove Park and not really dying - just a little tired. But those buzzards certainly are circling overhead! Turkey vultures (also known as turkey buzzards ) are a common sight over the wide open spaces of Sycamore Grove Park. On the ground they do resemble wild turkeys, with their large size, dark bodies, and most of all, their red, bald heads. But when they are in the sky they are often mistaken for hawks. How to tell the difference? Just remember V for vulture - hawks typically hold their wings out straight, IN THIS Issue Vulture Culture This Month s Ranger-led Programs and Activities Park News and Trivia Tidbit Fire in an Open Space Park Livermore Area Recreation and Park District 4444 East Ave. Livermore, CA 94550 www.larpd.dst.ca.us Ranger Office: 925.960.2400 A publication of the LARPD Open Space Unit while vultures hold their wings raised slightly in a V as they soar in circles, sometimes wobbling slightly. When seen from below, vulture wings appear to be twotoned: dark near the shoulders and a lighter gray below where the light shines through their flight feathers. Their wing span can be nearly 6 feet across. They tend to ride thermals (upward currents of warm air), often in circles, and rarely seem to flap their wings. The scientific name for turkey vulture is Cathartes aura. Cathartes translates loosely to purifier and that is what vultures do... if you consider eating rotting carcasses purifying. Breaking down dead animals is a necessary, if unglamorous, role to play in the web of life. When turkey vultures dig into a carcass, they are opening it up to myriads of smaller decomposers which will return nutrients to the soil. Interestingly, vulture probably comes from the Latin word vellere, meaning to pluck or tear. I think purifying sounds better than tearing but either way, it is an By Ranger Amy Wolitzer important job. If not for vultures, corpses would take much longer to decompose. Imagine if a walk in the park involved avoiding countless cesspools of rotting flesh brimming with dangerous bacteria, not to mention needing to hold your nose the whole time. We owe thanks to the vultures for keeping our parks pleasant! Dead animals are full of all kinds of nasty bacteria but turkey vultures have excellent immune systems and especially corrosive (and bacteria killing) stomach acid allowing them to eat what would make other beasts sick. How do vultures find dinner? There are at least two ways. There has been much debate but it is now accepted that our local vultures are gifted with a good sense of smell. It is less about the sniffing apparatus itself and more that evolution has fine-tuned the brain to dedicate an unusually large area to detecting odors. Even when flying high above the Continued on Page 4
Ranger-led Programs November Programs Experience nature and history in a special way. Programs are generally 1-2 hours in length. A $3 donation is requested. A $5 parking fee is charged at Sycamore Grove Park. Quick Look: Autumn Leaves Sunday, November 2 11:00 am November Stars Saturday, November 15 6:00 pm Turkey Time! Sunday, November 16 2:00 pm Birds of Springtown Saturday November 22 8:00 am Late Autumn Campfire Sunday, November 23 4:00 pm Post Holiday Walk Saturday, November 29 10:00 am Autumn Leaves Sunday, November 2 11:00 am Why do some leaves change color and fall in autumn and some trees stay green year round? Why do trees like our native buckeye lose their leaves at a different time of year? Come for a short walk along a newly opened section of trail and learn about a phenomenon we often take for granted. We will collect some of our favorite leaves to create leaf rubbings. Ranger Claire Girling Sycamore Grove Park, Arroyo Road Entrance November Stars Saturday, November 15 6:00 pm It is the perfect time to come out to Sycamore Grove for an evening of night activities and astronomy. Keep your eyes peeled for early Leonid meteors! We will be walking approximately three miles on both paved and unpaved trails. Ranger Glen Florey Sycamore Grove Park, Wetmore Road Entrance Turkey Time! Sunday, November 16 2:00 pm Gobble Gobble! Turkeys aren t just on the table, they re in our parklands too! Come learn about wild turkeys and hopefully find some to admire. This will be an easy, slow wander of less than a mile and will be great fun for both kids and adults. We ll make a fun Thanksgiving craft too. Ranger Amy Wolitzer Sycamore Grove Park, Arroyo Road Entrance Birds of Springtown Saturday, November 22 8:00 am Join us for our fall migration to the north side of town in search of seasonal feathered visitors. Over the years we ve seen many duck and wading bird species here as well as a variety of raptors and song birds. This program is appropriate for beginner through advanced birding enthusiasts. There will be binoculars to lend for those who don t have them. Cancelled if raining. Ranger Patti Cole Marlin Pound Park, 2010 Bluebell Drive More Programs on Page 3 2
More Programs, Park News and Trivia More November Programs Late Autumn Campfire Sunday, November 23 4:00 pm Join us to enjoy an evening by the campfire. We ll enjoy cocoa and s mores (provided) while learning about a few of our nocturnal park residents. Bring a chair or blanket to sit on and food to cook over the fire if you d like. Call (925) 960-2400 or email valleywilds@larpd.org for reservations. A $3 per person donation is requested. Ranger Dawn Soles Sycamore Grove Park, Reservable Picnic Area Annual Parking Passes and Calendars available November 3rd! Sycamore Grove Park Livermore, California 2015 Livermore Area Recreation and Park District January February March April May June July August September October November December Post Holiday Walk Saturday, November 29 10:00 am Are we holidayed out yet? The key to enjoying the holidays is to pace yourself. Now that we have had our fill of food, sports and (dare I say it?) relatives, It s time to reboot with a walk in the wild. Join us on a three-mile wander as we burn off calories and concerns in preparation for round two next month. Bring water, binoculars or a camera and some of those relatives if you like. Ranger Darren Segur Sycamore Grove Park, Arroyo Road Entrance Trivia Tidbit Rangers and firefighters do prescribed burns in Sycamore Grove Park for all of the following reasons except: A) To control invasive plants B) To reduce built up fuels C) To make way for wildflowers and native plants D) To add a campfire aroma to the park Answer: D) Although Rangers do love the campfire aroma, that is not one of the official reasons we do prescribed burns. Calendars (usually $10) are discounted to $6 for 2015 annual pass purchasers. Livermore Residents $48 (Seniors $24) Non-residents $72 ( Seniors $48) Senior discount for those 60 or over. Passes and calendars can be purchased at the Community Center, 4444 East Avenue or by calling (925) 373 5700 beginning November 3rd. Race to the Flagpole Saturday, November 8 Please be advised Sycamore Grove Park will be very busy the morning of Saturday, November 8. Race to the Flagpole is staging at Independence Park and running through Sycamore Grove. The race should be cleared out by 1:00 pm. The Arroyo Road Entrance should be less busy than the Wetmore Road Entrance in the morning but you may encounter traffic delays at Wetmore and Arroyo. Info about the race here: http://www.livermoregranadaboosters.org/ Race/2014/ 3
Vulture Culture (Continued) ground, turkey vulture brains are triggered by even faint odors produced by decomposing animals. Gas and oil companies took advantage of that fine sense of smell by adding a smelly compound to the oil and gas that is similar to a smell produced by rotting carrion and then watching for turkey vultures circling to locate leaks in the line. Oddly, a close cousin of our turkey vulture is not so gifted when it comes to smell. Black vultures inhabit the Southern US and Central and South America. Numerous informal experiments done in the 1800s found black vultures were attracted to a painting of an eviscerated sheep and ignored a smelly rotting animal hidden not far away from the mouth-watering painting. An amusing account of these experiments and others can be found here. In areas where both turkey and black vultures live, black vultures often follow turkey vultures to find food. Turkey vultures do not rely entirely upon smell, especially since they appear to prefer to dine on freshly dead (and not yet stinky) carrion. Like black vultures, they have good eyesight and investigate anything that looks like it may be a good, dead meal. They are also opportunistic. I once witnessed a red-tailed hawk catch a squirrel and settle down on a fence post to enjoy its meal. Within minutes it had a would-be dining companion a turkey vulture sitting on a nearby fence post waiting to pick up any dropped scraps or take over the consuming when the hawk had her fill. Vultures also frequently scan the roadways for roadkill and quickly settle on anything that loses the battle with modern technology. A few times I have seen the sad sight of a vulture that was so immersed in its meal, it did not get out of the way of a car quickly enough and joined its meal as a second course for other vultures. There is the sad tale of a turkey vulture that stopped to rest on some powerlines near the old VA bridge in Sycamore Grove Park in 2012. At some point it outstretched its wings (perhaps to take flight) and made contact with two lines. The current arced, electrocuting the bird and catching it on fire. It fell to the ground and started a small grass fire. Luckily, Ranger Royal Magnell (now working in Nevada) was in the nearby ranger office and noticed the power go out. He went outside to investigate, smelled smoke, and headed down in our 250 gallon fire truck. He had the grass fire (and the charred vulture) mostly extinguished by the time the fire department arrived on scene. Banding studies have found that turkey vultures in the wild live an average of 10 years. However, it would seem with a little TLC they can live much longer. The Lindsay Museum in Walnut Creek has a turkey vulture named Richard who hatched in 1974. She is 40 years old! (Male and female turkey vultures look very similar and she was named before she revealed her sex in the clearest way possible, by laying an egg.) Are you going to eat that whole squirrel? Turkey vultures have few predators and perhaps this is because of their interesting (and disgusting) 4
Vulture Culture (Continued) themselves. Sometimes as many as forty or fifty of them can be seen in a pillar, riding the thermals high in the sky. They are also often seen on cool mornings sunning themselves, wings out-stretched, perched atop tree snags or fence posts. This is thought to dry their wings, warm their bodies and kill bacteria and parasites. And it probably feels good too. way of defending themselves when they do feel threatened they can projectile vomit partiallydigested carrion. This seems to successfully gross out most everybody. But this is not their only disgusting habit. When temperatures get very hot the turkey vulture has a rather vulgar way of cooling off. The vulture will urinate on his legs and feet and the evaporation of the liquid will cool him down. This may also kill bacteria, but even if that is an added benefit, I don t suggest trying to cool down this way if you want to remain in human company! Let s take a closer look at some of the facial oddities of a turkey vulture. Firstly, why the bald head? The most likely answer is that long ago, when ancestral relatives of the turkey vulture first decided it was a good idea to stick their heads into rotting animals, it was the ones with the fewest feathers on their heads who avoided harboring parasites and getting horrible bacterial infections in their important facial areas. Nature selected for baldness. A related oddity is the turkey vulture s nostrils. If you get a chance to gaze closely at a vulture from the side you will find you can see right through one nostril and out the other side. There is no septum dividing the nostrils as we have. This keeps their nostrils clear of rotten meat and bacteria. The increased airflow may also help in sniffing out dead things. When turkey vultures are out circling they may be looking (or smelling) for a meal, but I am pretty sure these birds are sometimes just enjoying For decades now there has been confusion over where to place turkey vultures in bird books. It has long been agreed that the new world (American) vultures are not closely related to the old world vultures of Africa, Asia and Europe. Convergent evolution has shaped unrelated ancestors into birds specialized for eating dead things. Both old world and new world vultures were traditionally grouped with hawks, eagles and falcons. In the late 20th century, DNA studies indicated that our vultures were more closely related to storks and herons (Family Ciconiidae). Later these DNA studies were found to be erroneous and more recent DNA studies imply American vultures should indeed be grouped with hawks and eagles. Some taxonomists put them in a whole new order Cathariformes. As we continue to advance our understanding of the important role of these birds in nature, I think it is safe to predict turkey vultures will continue to take only mild interest in us as they circle overhead, wobbling as they ride the thermals. But next time you re out hiking or biking and see vultures circling, I hope you ll take a moment to thank them for their important role in purifying our park lands. 5
Fire in an Open Space Park By Ranger Glen Florey You may have noticed that the upper portion of Sycamore Grove Park has been closed a few times recently for prescribed burns. I have been fortunate to participate in most of the fires in the park the last few years, and it has been an interesting learning process. When we schedule a fire in the park we have two main objectives: resource management and training for both our staff and the local fire agencies who participate. For many years Sycamore Grove had cattle grazing throughout the park. They kept the grasses low but had no preference for faster growing non-native plant species over native species. As a result many of our native species are now only found in the very steep areas of the park that were hard for cattle to reach. In the years since cattle have been removed from the park non-native plants have continued to spread. Many of these plants are annuals they only live one season and die after setting seeds. Without the cows to remove the dead material the thatch has gotten so thick that light no longer reaches the soil making it near impossible for native species to push through to the light. By burning hilly areas of the park with thick thatch we have had great success in allowing the native plants already present in the areas to spread and be much more visible in the spring. The wildflower displays in the burned areas are some of the best in the park. While the controlled burns are certainly the largest fires we have had in the park in recent years there are also occasionally small fires accidently started by staff using heavy equipment in the park. Every spring we mow large fire breaks through the park so if there is a fire in the dry season it will be easier to contain. However, this requires using a heavy duty mower off trail and the risk of a blade striking a rock and starting a fire is considerable. To reduce this hazard it is standard procedure to follow the mower with our patrol fire truck to quickly extinguish any accidental fires. The experience other rangers and I have gained on controlled burns in the park makes this an even safer plan. As I mentioned, the rangers have a small patrol fire truck that holds 250 gallons of water but that isn t nearly enough to keep things safe during a large controlled burn in the park. For several years we have worked with the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department to plan and carry out burns in the park. Other agencies such as Camp Parks Fire, Alameda County Fire and Cal Fire have sent crews to burns in the park to gain valuable experience working with wildland fire. Fire in a wildland environment is scary and can be quite intense, but we are learning to use it as a tool to keep the park beautiful and healthy. At least as important is learning how to quickly get an uncontrolled fire under control to keep everyone in and around the park safe. As the rains start I encourage everyone to head up to the burned areas of the park to watch the transformation from blackened hillsides into fields of wildflowers and native grasses! 6