A DAY WITHOUT EAGLES

The eagle we didn't see

Have you ever seen an eagle? 

What a testament to rugged beauty and majesty. 

Watching them in videos soaring through the air is magic.

We needed a break from our pandemic life and were looking for somewhere to go that wasn't too crowded during Spring Break. We didn't know that eagles build nests at a reservoir near us. We had never seen an eagle in the wild nor heard of the Los Vaqueros Reservoir, even though it is about 15 miles away as the crow flies or 25 miles by car. 

We primed ourselves for a pandemic adventure away from crowds, while we could enjoy fresh air and a good walk. Not really knowing what to expect, we brought water, walking shoes, sun hats, cameras, and a sketchbook. We were hoping for beautiful, shade-dappled scenery.

To get to the reservoir, a water supply for the Contra Costa Water District, we drove through farmlands and hills dotted with Valley Oaks and small herds of cattle. We timed our visit wrong, arriving at the reservoir around noon, the sun blazing even at this time of year, not the best time for birdwatching. That was okay with us as we wanted to scout out the reservoir first.

Sketchbook page

We turned through the gate, drove along the low hills with oak groves, to discover a desolate-looking reservoir with hardly any shade. This man-made reservoir looked like others we had visited rather than the beaches and wooded areas of lakes like Lake Tahoe. The water level was about six feet lower than normal for this time of year because of the lack of winter rain. We began to feel disappointed. What we noticed was the emptiness: no birds and a large expanse of stark landscape.  We could see the tops of the dead oak trees that had been submerged when the reservoir was first filled. We parked at the marina and walked to the boat docks. The rental boats were gone, but a few people fished from the docks. Photos of large fish caught from the docks decorated one wall of the marina building.

The trails leading to the eagle nesting area have been closed to allow the eagles privacy. We turned around to the surrounding hills that look like soft suede. The hill grasses had not grown tall like they do after a rainy winter. We decided to try a walk along the shoreline. We picked a gravelly trail that was open and moved north from the marina. Along the trail, a few bunches of California poppies, hairy vetch, and lupin bloomed, but not the fields of wildflowers that may appear in April. Not an eagle in sight.

We walked down towards the shoreline and crossed a low area where the dry bullrush stalks usually would be soaking in water and continued up the trail to a stand of old oaks. We hoped to see a stray eagle or hawk wheeling in the sky above us. We saw a white pelican, a few coots, and a couple of grebes in the water. We kept looking for something to inspire us to take photos or sit and draw.  The path we chose started to disappear so we turned back to the marina. At least, we'd had a good walk.

What was best about the reservoir: the quiet. We couldn't hear the freeway, whose loud hum reverberates around our valley and bounces off the hills. 

Second best: the few people we encountered all wore masks or slipped them on as we approached each other. Even the ones fishing from the docks or shoreline had them on with the exception of one older, husky man leaning on a bench.

Third best after a long, hot walk: the Hagen Daz ice cream for sale at the marina.

Fourth best: the care of the reservoir by the water district by keeping people away from the nesting areas while allowing fishing and hiking. The district works to restore the natural savannah around the water, planting oak saplings in groves on the hills. Some of the trails meander through the new groves. I marveled at the young oaks mixed in with the old since Valley Oaks have been dying off from disease, old age, and development for many years. With our help, they are coming back. At the northern entrance off of Vasco Road, the district built an interpretive center to help visitors understand the flora and fauna of the reservoir.

Though the reservoir looks desolate,  as we looked more closely, we realized the benefits of its spareness. It was quiet, not crowded with people, and a good place to relax from pandemic worries. We will have to wait for the eagles till later.

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Check out these websites about eagles and the Los Vaqueros Reservoir here:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Golden_Eagle/id  The AllAboutBirds is a great site for bird identification

https://www.ccwater.com/383/Golden-Eagles 

https://eastbaywild.com/2018/06/18/los-vaqueros-reservoir/

New kind of trash on the trails.  I've seen these at the gutters on walks on our street too.

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