Time for Los Vaqueros’ nesting eagles

If timing is everything, then now is the time at Los Vaqueros.

Golden eagles are tending active nests in so many areas across the watershed that wildlife scientists have closed eight trails to protect them from intrusion. The eagles, which hunt every day, can best be seen by renting a boat, which allows you to scan across the oaks and foothills and home in with binoculars or a camera with a long lens.

The nests are 5-6 feet across. When the golden eagles emerge to hunt, they, too, are huge, with 7-foot wingspans, and are dark against the sky behind them.

Through April, scientists often count more than 60 active nests in the foothills of Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

It’s all part of the wonder of spring, where plants, trees and critters come to life after a long winter in a state that resembles suspended animation. Even with a mostly dry December and January, Los Vaqueros still received 38 inches of rain, plenty to refresh this oak woodlands/uplands habitat.

In a testament to spring at Los Vaqueros, a bobcat has been emerging most mornings from the hills to take a seat near the watershed office, located on the Brentwood side of the lake. The bobcat lies there, soaking in the warm sun like it was a tonic (the forecast was for the mid-70s this weekend) and then grooms itself without a care in the world.

As with so many lakes right now, Los Vaqueros is gorgeous: 92 percent full, the hills green, wildflowers starting to pop and the fish biting. Wildlife of all sorts is in birds-and-the-bees mode, as your parents may have first explained it.

Wildlife watching is about matching up times and locations. Random stories are published about the best places to see wildlife, but if you don’t match the time with the place, it can be like looking for a polar bear in the desert.

Looking at a map while in a boat, the general locations of the Los Vaqueros nests are identified by the trail closures of Adobe, Miwok, Kellogg Creek (from Kellogg Rec Area to Mariposa Canyon), Mariposa Canyon, Crest, Eagle Ridge (from Walnut Trail to Vista Grande Trail), Los Vaqueros (from Black Hills Trail to Canada Trail) and Homestead.

When you leave the marina, good viewing spots can be found at Cowboy Cove (also a good fishing spot) and to the north in the hills above the deep cove along the Peninsula. Though more distant, another good spot is near the dam. From a boat, look north toward the Crest Trail. If you are unfamiliar with the area, find the John Muir Interpretive Center near the shore, then scan the short ridge to the left of it that rises.

The golden eagle is my favorite bird of prey, the fiercest hunter in the sky. In the East Bay hills, in Sunol Regional Wilderness, Calaveras Watershed, Ohlone Wilderness and other parks, I’ve watched them fly high overhead, arc in a half-circle, then fold their wings and plummet to the surface, where they flare, and with their talons extended, nab their prey (usually a ground squirrel). Since the first time I saw this, I’ve always worn a ring with an eagle.

Chronicle hike lottery

Free entry: To even the playing field and smooth out the rush, The Chronicle’s marketing department will conduct a lottery for subscriber members who want to join me on a hike this spring. You can enter through SFChronicle.com and the winners will be selected May 18 for the June 8 hike. We’ll venture into the new La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve — with tales of kidnappings, bank robbers, and my failures trying to find hidden loot — in a beautiful new preserve, with lunch and support. Sign-ups: https://www.sfchronicle.com, then in the left pull-down tab, click on “membership” and “exclusive offers.”

Fishing openers

Bay Area coast: The sport fishing season for rockfish, cabezon and lingcod is set for April 15 from Point Arena to Pigeon Point. That includes the Farallones Islands out of the Golden Gate, Cordell Bank out of Bodega Bay and the Deep Reef out of Half Moon Bay. The sport salmon season will open, most likely, June 9. Dates will be finalized in early April.

Monterey: The deep-sea fishing season for Monterey Bay, that is, south of Pigeon Point, opens Sunday. The sport salmon season for Monterey Bay opens April 7. For this zone, Pigeon Point is the line of demarcation: No fishing by boat for rockfish or salmon north of Pigeon Point in San Mateo County.

Trout: The trout season for mountain streams opens April

28.

Yosemite near, far

Yosemite Valley: North Pines Campground opened for the season Monday and Lower Pines opened Friday. Both immediately filled and are booked at www.recreation.gov.Camp 4, the walk-in sites near the base of El Capitan, will go to “ranger registration” on Monday. That means campers will have to line up at the Camp 4 kiosk, with campsites provided first-come, first-served. Info: (209) 372-0266, www.nps.gov/yose.

Tuolumne Meadows: In snowbound Tuolumne Meadows (8,600 feet), backcountry ranger Laura Pilewski sent an email Thursday that included the following: 123 inches of snowfall in March, 44-inch settled snow base, and “Tioga Road is 100 percent snow covered from Crane Flat to the 9,000-foot line of Tioga Pass.”

A modest proposal

Cigarettes, cont.: A number of park rangers have told me privately that they are still dumbfounded as to why Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed last year’s bill to ban smoking in state parks. With the veto, the governor said that the proposed law went too far to restrict a basic freedom. The problem is not smoking, but rather the littering from the cigarette butts. You find the butts at vista points, campsites, picnic sites, or they get washed into storm drains, out to sea and then end up on beaches.

Tom Stienstra is The Chronicle’s outdoor writer. Email: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @StienstraTom