Huichica Creek and More Musings on Shared Sightings

Some rare time off of work gave me the opportunity to wander around at Huichica Creek this morning. I took along my mountain bike as I thought it might give me the chance to venture a little further than I usually do when going out there. The fact is the levees and dikes are quite extensive and if you follow them you can actually travel some distance in your explorations. Having the bike made it possible for me to see it all from a new perspective. I was thinking of my friend Roger who mentioned that he was looking for a place for his cross-country runners to train and I wondered if this held any promise. I sent him the map below, we'll see if he checks it out.

Another reason I went out there was to check on a Great Horned Owl nest I had found previously (yes, they are just fine). I posted that sighting to the Northbay bird list and received some criticism for doing so. There are some birders who feel this information should not be made public as they think it may reduce the chance of a successful nest. While I understand the concern of some, I have been hesitant to accept the idea that members of the birding community can't be trusted with the knowledge of a nesting location. Perhaps I am naive but I think trust and faith in people to do the right thing, to observe from a distance, to respect the bird and its needs is the way forward. There are of course the incidents that everyone calls attention to in which someone does something dumb or selfishly moves in for the perfect picture, but I think that for every one of those there are 10 others where a person connects to the natural world in a spiritual way or perhaps makes a personal commitment to get involved in the conservation of an animal or a place, or maybe best of all, passes the wonder and awe of nature on to a child. Somewhere there must be a happy medium between secrecy and openness between the narrow view and the broad view. In the end, no matter where you fall on the spectrum our wishes and desires remain the same: to preserve these beautiful creatures and the habitats that support them.