Alamo • Danville • Blackhawk • Diablo • San Ramon
VALLEY
Find out what’s new in the Valley at
THE
SENTINEL
www.valleysentinel.com
Arts • Activities • Auto • Business • Gardening • Seniors and more...
always for the community VOL 27 NO 7
October 2021
www.valleysentinel.com
SPOTLIGHT
Hope 100 Golf Marathon Fundraiser Achieves AllTime High
Golfers from throughout the U.S. attended the event at Castlewood The 2021 Hope 100 Golf Marathon raised $155,217 for its namesake hospice organization— the highest amount raised in the event’s six-year history. The annual charity golf event, this year held September 13 at Castlewood Country Club
ECRWSS
Postmaster: Dated Material
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID DANVILLE, CA PERMIT NO. 70
See HOPE page 4
Sentinel Newspapers, Inc. P.O. Box 1309 Danville, CA 94526 925-820-6047
Two new art exhibits opening in October bring different perspectives to the natural form and texture of local trees. Here above is one of the pieces shown at San Ramon City Hall Gallery, “The Trees of the san Ramon Valley and Beyond”, by artist and photographer Mark Stephenson. On display through December. See article page 5. Also Walnut Creek’s Bedford Gallery exhibit, “If a Tree Falls: Art of the Boundary Oak”. From October 30 through February 13, 2022. Pieces include works made from the wood of Walnut Creek’s 325 year old signature Valley Oak that fell in a windstorm in Oct. 2019. See details page 4.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) By James M. Hale
The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) is one of North America’s smallest songbirds, weighing in at only five to seven grams. Their length may reach five inches, with a wingspan that may reach slightly more than six inches. Adult males are blue-gray above with whitish underparts. The specific epithet caerulea is Latin for blue. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers have a long, black tail that is edged in white. They have a slender dark bill, an indication of their insectivorous diet. Females are less blue and more grayish. Juveniles have greenish-gray plumage. Both sexes have a distinct white eye ring. In breeding plumage, the males have a thin, black line on their crown over their eyes forming a V. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are migratory, with their breeding range including southern Ontario, the eastern and southwestern United
States, and Mexico. They prefer open deciduous woodlands, mixed oak and chaparral slopes, and scrublands. Riparian woodlands, urban and suburban parks, gardens, and habitats near water are also used for breeding and nesting. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are quite abundant in the Diablo Range, and on the eastern, arid slopes of Mount Diablo. The first recorded confirmation for breeding in Contra Costa County wasn’t until April 27, 1940, when eggs were collected from a nest on Mount Diablo. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers migrate south to the southern United States, Mexico, northern Central America, and some of the Caribbean Islands to over-winter during inclement weather. A few individuals will overwinter in Contra Costa
County. The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is an energetic, fussy and feisty little bird that seems to always be on the move. As this fidgety, little bird flits about in pursuit of food, it announces its presence with a cat-like meow or zee-u. Their call is sometimes likened to a banjo-like, high-pitched twang. Its nasal repertoires have earned it the nickname of “Little Mockingbird”. Bluegray Gnatcatchers “hawk” for insects and glean vegetation for spiders, invertebrates, and other insects. They often hold their tails upright like a wren while searching for food or defending their territory. Migratory Bluegray Gnatcatchers will begin to arrive in Contra Costa County as early as the beginning of March. Pairs will unite within the first day of arrival and
This Month’s Special Section:
begin to search for a horizontal branch or tree-fork for a nest site. Both parents will build a cone-like nest of grasses and fine plant fiber, bound together with spider silk, and covered in lichen. Up to seven nests may be built during the breeding season with multiple broods being raised. This may explain their population explosion in Contra Costa County from 1980 through 1985. The female
Fall Home and Garden page 6
See BIRD page 2