Jack London State Park and the hunt for the pileated woodpecker

I read online that there might be pileated woodpeckers at Jack London State Park. A woodpecker the size of a crow: it should be easy to find, right? I imagined I'd see it in the parking lot, stomping on tiny sparrows like an avian Godzilla. Hey, they're related to dinosaurs, right?

Anyway, it turns out that although I did see a dark blob in the distance that MIGHT have been a pileated, that was the best view I ever got. On the other hand, I did see a coyote chasing a rabbit through a grape field.

Also some scrub jays:

And plenty of nature's comedians, the acorn woodpeckers. People say that hyenas and kookaburras sound like they are laughing... I say the laughing animal of California is the acorn woodpecker.

Probably, they're laughing at squirrels who can't pry out their acorns and steal them. That's because acorn woodpeckers use their pecking powers to make holes in dead trees to wedge food for the winter. Just TRY to pull that out, squirrel...

What was interesting about this particular population of acorn woodpeckers is that they had made several of their granary trees out of eucalyptus. Normally they use oak trees, but in this area that has a lot of vinyard and few oaks, the eucalyptic remnants of a failed timber speculation apparently make a pretty good substitute.

Fall at Mt Diablo

Went out to Castle Rock at Mt. Diablo this past weekend. It's full of crumbling sandstone cliffs and raptor nests (also crumbling).

It's one of those weekends that make you love California so hard! We had a picnic under the oaks:

And from the bench we spotted nuthatches, bluebirds, oak titmice, golden crowned sparrows, acorn woodpeckers, scrub jays...

...even some far-off turkey vultures. Getting better at photos through binoculars...

Pyracantha adds some color. I'll have to come back here to check for waxwings.

Tom found some quite large acorns. Choadcorns.

Turns out there is a reason the trail is called "Shell ridge."

Maybe Rebecca can tell us all more about why these round chunks of sandstone are breaking off in rounded segments.

The Quest for the Holy Tarantula is at an end:

It was interesting to watch different people's reaction to the tarantulas. They ranged from "ew gross" to "woah cool" to "big deal." Knowledge levels also varied from "which end is the front?" to "mind the urticating hairs."