Videotape Captures Bird in Bush That May Block a Store

Looking for Mr. Gnatcatcher. Or: birds, politics and videotape.

The question is this: Does the California gnatcatcher live and breed in a big scrub-brushy field on the northern edge of Encinitas or is he/she merely a visitor, a transient, a heretofore undocumented migratory bird?

On the answer may hang the fate of a Home Depot proposed for the southeastern corner of El Camino Real and Olivenhain Road.

Not just any humdrum Home Depot either. The mother of all Home Depots, prepared to sell enough screen doors, bathroom fixtures and bags of fertilizer to satisfy the home improvement urges of much of North County.

By the proposed numbers: 102,000 square feet (roughly the size of two football fields). Plus, a 20,000 square-feet gardening center and 540 parking places. And 19 new homes behind the mega-store.

It’s a familiar story. The developer proposes, and the homeowners organize. In this case, into Neighbors United for Quality of Life.

City rules make it difficult, if not impossible, to pave over or otherwise ruffle gnatcatcher turf. The federal government is debating whether to put the homely little bird on the endangered species list.

Thus the city government hired biology consultants to comb the 55-acre site. In five trips, they reported that they never spotted a gnatcatcher but did, on one occasion, hear its distinctive kitten-like call.

“They’ve concluded there is no gnatcatcher nesting area on the site,” said city planner Craig Olson. “They decided any gnatcatchers there must be transitory.”

The homeowners enlisted the aid of Freeman Hall, a semi-retired meteorologist and dedicated birder and Audubon Society member who lives in Solana Beach.

He’s not surprised the city’s consultants couldn’t find the runty bird. Even in the most robust nesting areas, it’s not unusual to find but one gnatcatcher couple per acre, happily procreating beneath the chaparral and saying prayers to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Hall reports seeing gnatcatchers on several occasions. He suspects the city’s consultants may have lacked patience.

“I’ve got the time to spend a few hours waiting and looking,” Hall said. “If you meow enough, the birds will peep up out of curiosity.”

To bolster Hall’s finding, Leisa Grajek decided to look for herself. But, because she’s a nearby homeowner and charter member of Neighbors United, she figured her word might be suspect.

So she went armed with her Canon camcorder. Now she is in proud possession of 45 minutes of videotape showing not one, not two, but three gnatcatchers on the site.

Her cinema verite environmentalis may figure prominently when the City Council finally confronts the issue early next year.

“He’s out there, and he’s just magnificent,” she said of the little bird: a judgment probably more political than aesthetic.

Of Flames, Rock and Rivers

Things happen.

* When a neighbor’s house in Valley Center caught fire, one of those who came running to help with hoses and a bucket brigade was political consultant John Kern.

If nothing else, Kern figures the experience will gain him new respect from one of his consulting clients: the San Diego City Firefighters Assn.

* Look for a needle-exchange plan in coming months to help cut the spread of AIDS among drug users in San Diego. A similar proposal a year ago proved too hot politically.

* Jack McDowell, pitcher for the Chicago White Sox (17-10 last season), brings his rock ‘n’ roll group VIEW to the Belly-Up Tavern in Solana Beach on Friday.

McDowell sings and plays guitar.

* Joan Rivers and actress Tori Spelling, one of the stars of TV’s “Beverly Hills, 90210,” have just done anti-drug TV commercials for the San Diego police.

* Another (gag) ad from the group SWIM (Straight, White, Intelligent Men) in the latest San Diego Mensan, the magazine for the high IQ set:

“When you have a special position to fill--a position that requires a little more effort, that necessitates a little more responsibility, that demands success--consider hiring a man.

“For generations men have gone out into the world and taken charge. Resourceful, creative, stable, men know how to get the job done and get it done right.”

* North County bumper sticker: “If I Were You, I’d Do It My Way.”