I was very fortunate to witness an amazing trifecta of raptors at dusk Sunday evening (12/27/2020).
An Osprey continues to roost regularly in the Eucalyptus trees on the corner of El Camino and Willow Avenue here in Burlingame, so I head outside to watch for its arrival late each day.
While watching for the Osprey, I heard an AMERICAN KESTREL calling and looked up to see it fly in and land at the top of the tree in front of me. It had something under its feet, and continued to pick at it, but I could not distinguish what it was eating. It flew away about 5min later .
My neighbor (fellow birder) joined me outside, and just at sunset, we heard the OSPREY calling as it flew in to roost with the TURKEY VULTURES in the Eucalyptus.
Immediately thereafter, a COOPERS HAWK swooped in low and landed on the top of the pole in front of us in the intersection. It had a very large prey in its grasp, and proceeded to eat in front of us. It flew away after a bit, leaving the prey on the top of the pole.
We were getting ready to call it quits when at 5:40pm, the Osprey suddenly called out very loudly and started to circle above the Eucalyptus trees a number of times before settling back into the tree again. Sunset was about ~4:58pm, but the moon was shining very brightly (~98% full) so even at 5:40pm, the Osprey's white torso was visible in the moonlight as it circled above.
I am concerned about the future of this stand of Eucalyptus trees outside my home, as they support a very large, long-established roost of TURKEY VULTURES, and now they serve as a place for the OSPREY to roost at night. A GREAT HORNED OWL also roosts in the Eucalyptus (it wakes me quite often, and I regularly find castings on the ground below), and there is also a WILD HONEYBEE HIVE in one of the trees. The trees are full of YELLOW RUMPED WARBLERS while they winter here, and PYGMY NUTHATCHES and countless other bird species fill this stand of trees year-round. A project to "update" El Camino Real in the City of Burlingame has been proposed, and would most likely include the removal of a great number of the Eucalyptus trees. I greatly fear that this specific stand of trees will be removed, and am struggling to determine what could be done to keep this stand protected from removal. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. The Online Public Forum has been reopened and extended for Comments through midnight on January 8, 2021, so time is short.
