The Burlingame Voice

Return of the Cougar

EssEff is all about multiple mountain lion sighting in the city this week.  The Comicle led with the story yesterday including some cool video footage.  I you get the text notices from the County about traffic, weather and the like, you know there are mountain lion sightings down here all the time.  The last one I got was on Oct. 24th.  From the report, it sounds like this young male cougar will be coming back down to our neck of the woods

It was not clear whether the sleek feline was the same animal that created an uproar earlier in the week when one was seen lurking around mansions in the Presidio and Sea Cliff.

Fish and Wildlife officials initially thought Friday that the puma was a female, but Chris Wilmers, a wildlife ecologist at UC Santa Cruz and the head of the Puma Project, said it is “a typical young dispersal-age male who takes a wrong turn.”

“We’re pretty sure it’s from the Peninsula because otherwise it would have had to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge or swim across,” he said, “so we’re going to drop it off on the Peninsula, where it is most likely to have come from.”

I've seen deer in the flatlands of B'game on occasion so it's not inconceivable that a mountain lion would come down from Skyline as well.  Be on the lookout since this latest guy likes to roam and he's on his way back.

$20 Million Shelter Breaks Ground

The Daily Journal was on hand for the groundbreaking of the new Humane Society building out at Coyote Point that is replacing the old facility in the same spot.  The DJ hits the high points here

(President Ken) White estimated some 6,000 animals’ lives have been saved at the county’s current shelter, where he said a spay and neuter clinic and education programs, among other services, have offered pet owners and residents ways to provide good care for the county’s animals. He expressed gratitude to the estimated 1,400 volunteers, 120 staff members and city and county officials he said have supported the shelter in the past.

Though White acknowledged the new facility will be smaller than the existing one, he said it will help facilitate an ongoing shift of the nonprofit’s charitable services, which includes animal adoption, to the Tom Lantos Center for Compassion, a Burlingame facility it opened in 2011. With fewer services to accommodate at the San Mateo location, White said the new space will be designed specifically to house stray animals and provide better care for them using updated tools and technologies.

Here's the B'game facility on Rollins that allows for a smaller, more focused facility on the Bayfront.  All of this has not happened without controversy as we noted here.  I haven't heard any follow-up on those concerns.

Hummingbird Question

Dear Voice readers and commenters, I have a question.  B'game is well-stocked hummingbird territory--most of the time.  The Spring was buzzing with buzzing and then we had several months of nothing on the hummingbird front.  Now, all of a sudden, in the last week or two they are back with a fury.  They're buzzing about, feeding on nectar that has been sitting in feeders for weeks untouched and even fighting with each other for first sips.  Does anyone know what is going on in hummingland?

Humane Society Conflict

I won't get too deep into this because I am not close to the Peninsula Humane Society operations and the Daily Journal article today has a bit of a he-said-she said feel to it; in my opinion.  With substantial operations in B'game-San Mateo including Coyote Point, Rollins Road and Pick of the Litter near B'way, it is of local interest.  Here's the allegation first

More allegations that animals are abused at the Peninsula Humane Society, as well as complaints about the high salaries of the nonprofit’s top executives, prompted former workers to come forward Thursday.

The small group of donors, past volunteers and prior employees asked the PHS Board of Directors to make changes by reallocating funds toward its true mission of caring for the animals under its care. They estimated nearly $1.5 million is spent each year on salaries and benefits for just six of the nonprofit’s executives.

and for balance, a bit of the recent accomplishments

The humane society, which has a nearly $13 million annual budget, contracts with San Mateo County for animal control services and operates the county-owned Coyote Point Shelter — which all have agreed is grossly out of date and officials are in the midst of planning a $22 million remodel. The nonprofit was also able to form a stronghold of donors to raise $26 million to build the Tom and Annette Lantos Campus of Compassion on Rollins Road in Burlingame. Adoptions and wildlife rehabilitation are conducted out of the nonprofit-owned facility opened in 2011.

I know some volunteers are Voice readers, so if you have a first-hand perspective this is the place to voice it.  Here is the Rollins Rd facility that is now five years old!

Pidgeon Party

One of the things that makes the merchants on B'way crazy is "Birdman" who feeds the pidgeons--with the predictable aftermath on sidewalks, awnings and cars.  Here is quite the pidgeon party going on yesterday in the parking lot on Chula Vista.

That is a lotta bird food....leading to a lotta %^*&*.

West Nile Arrives

No more point in being in denial that West Nile virus has arrived in San Mateo County.  According to the Daily Post over the weekend, the SMCMVCD (the "bug guys") started spraying in San Mateo last night.  Infected mosquitos were collected in the Marina Lagoon northeast of the interchange of 101 and 92.  That is pretty much in our 'hood extending north to E. 3rd St in San Mateo.

Next time I run into our Mosquito commissioner, I'll hopefully get an update.  In the meantime, go outside and look for things that hold water--that watering can you never use or the upside down frisbee in sprinkler range and empty them out.  Hopefully the County will put aside 50 year sea-level rise concerns and deal with the problem at hand.

New Mills Canyon

There has been some good upgrades and maintenance recently in Mills Canyon.  The DJ is reporting the story here and notes

Weeks of work refining the secluded and narrow trail culminated Tuesday, April 19, as workers with the California Conservation Corps cleared brush from the path which spans a little over a mile in the Burlingame hills east of Skyline Boulevard, near Arguello Drive.

The final day of trimming put a finishing touch on the work which began last month that included building new stairs, regrading the trail for storm drainage, adding more steps, reducing erosion threats, widening the trail, implementing new retaining walls and more.

This part was interesting to me also since kids are sometimes in there at night partying

The dirt trail is open daily for free to members of the public to enjoy, along with their leashed dogs. No camping is allowed on the property, which closes at nightfall.

Outside of the recent beautification efforts, Holtz said volunteers are often responsible for clearing non-native species which may grow along the trail, as well as cleaning out the rare occurrence of litter being left behind.

I thought I would take a look at the Crime Map (that you can find here) for the last two weeks and see how it's been going.  It's been quiet in the canyon so we will see how it goes as the school year comes to an end.

 

 

Bruce D. at the wheel

Yesterday, Iron Maiden's customized 747 got into a fender bender in Chile. Who was at the controls? Bruce Dickinson of course. 

Beware the B'game Shrooms

I meant to post something about local mushrooms a couple of weeks ago when a particularly striking one popped up in my front yard.  I got talking to some neighbors and one mentioned his dog eating some of the shrooms in his yard--which cannot be good and did not work out too well for the dog or my neighbor's rug.  The Merc/Times reminded me today with this piece

With our recent wet weather, you probably are seeing mushrooms popping up all around you. Mushrooms are the visible, reproductive structures of fungus, called fruiting bodies. Their job is to house and disseminate reproductive spores.  Most fungi, even those in the lawn, are beneficial. They help decompose organic matter and release nutrients to our plants and soil.

If you click through to the Merc site, you can read about various local varieties, but I happen to know a guy who was a commercial mushroom farmer in the Santa Cruz mountains and he identified the one in my yard as the psychedelic variety amanita muscaria that is apparently related to the Death Cap but different.  Here's the one from my yard so you know what to look out for.

Halloween Hunger

I started the "Wildlife" category as a bit of a lark, but now I find plenty of material to keep it fresh.  I woke up yesterday morning to discover this sight on my front porch.

What animal do you think did this?  Squirrel?  Raccoon?  One of those big black birds that are everywhere?  In twenty-plus Halloweens I have never had this happen before.  Don't forget tonight is the B'game Halloween pub crawl.  No dancing on the bar!