Duck is a Four Letter Bird: May 2009

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Signs of summer: Ch-ch-changes

Besides the hundreds of molting geese, there are other changes going on as spring turns into summer. Some are pretty, like butterflies 'n flowers:

Flowering buckeye looks like it just woke up and hasn't done its hair yet... but it smells great.

(Check out the bonus ants on this iris:)

Some changes are not as picturesque, like this ~~horrible sea monster~~ pile of algae. The Lake Merritt Institute explains that as the day length increases, algae begins to proliferate in the shallow water just offshore. When it dies and rots, it smells like you would imagine a ~~horrible sea monster~~ pile of algae would, plus it lowers water oxygen levels, so the city removes it with a special harvester boat just like... they would remove... a horrible monster... OK, I admit it's a bad analogy. Later in the summer, an even more annoying water plant, wigeon grass, will start growing like crazy. The city evidently removes literal TONS of the stuff during July and August.

Sheltering in all that algae are hundreds of cormorant snacks in the form of tiny baby fish. Cormorants, like pelicans, just HATE getting algae on their faces before a big date, so the fish are probably pretty safe hiding in there.

Speaking of cormorants, their numbers are increasing as summer approaches. A few of them are breeding in the dead trees on the islands, and their combined grunting makes the islands sound like they're home to a flock of arboreal pigs. Later in summer I'll probably be able to get some good pictures of them as they herd fish cooperatively.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Stumpy

Sometimes you can get to know individual birds at the lake because of something distinctive about them. A lot of times it's an injury, like a missing toe. Several times in April, I spotted Stumpy the snowy egret, who is missing 3 out of 4 toes on the right foot.

Missing toes might be a big deal for a snowy egret, because they use their bright yellow feet to churn up the mud as they walk, scaring snacks out of hiding and into their waiting beaks. But I saw Stumpy foraging in the shallows and the stump seemed to work just fine as a churning device, and the remaining toe seems to be enough for balance.

There's also Stumpy the Night Heron, who's just missing the tip of one toe on the left foot. Kind of hard to see in the photo but enough to make this bird uniquely identifiable.

Having seen the way these guys fight, I wouldn't be surprised if a nasty peck from a rival caused this injury.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Brown Blurry Birds

Believe it or not, there ARE other birds around besides geese and their babies. They're just much harder to photograph, what with that whole "up in a tree and totally backlit" thing. Sometimes they come down to tease me for a moment, letting me snap ONE out of focus shot before they're off. I think of these shots as less artsy and more just documentation of who's present in the park.

Here's a sassy little junco showing off a little-seen view of its tum:

And here's a goldfinch:

A common but shy towhee:

And something I haven't seen a lot of at the lake: a mourning dove:

It was closely following a pigeon, in what looked like a doomed love affair.

Sorry mourning dove, I know you two are both Columbiformes and all, but maybe try someone who's at least in your own genera.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Blackbrfffds and Diet

One other interesting Blackbird fact I learned from Gordon Orians' Blackbirds of the Americas is that Blackbirds have a uniquely powerful beak. Most birds, somewhat like alligators, can bite fairly hard but are weak when it comes to opening their mouths. That's why Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, could hold the crocs' mouths closed with just his hands. Blackbirds are the opposite--they are great at opening their beaks, which is called "gaping." Since they're unlikely to encounter a spirited Australian who holds their mouths closed for fun, why do they have this ability? The answer is that they use their superpowers to pry open gaps in grass stems or curled leaves and pick out bugs from inside.

That's why when I saw this blackbird by the lake's edge, I was surprised to see it filling its beak with tiny yellow flowers from the burr-clover, Medicago polymorpha.

What was this bird doing? Eating the flowers? bringing them back for its young to eat? After I watched the bird, it flew across the lake and landed in a tree which definitely has a blackbird nest in it. I read about another potential explanation in a book called Wild Health by Cindy Engel. She mentions several studies which show some birds, including starlings, line their nests with fresh greenery, especially if they are re-using an old nest. The idea is that an older nest may have more parasites, and the green plants fumigate the nest for a new year of use. Do blackbirds re-use their nests? Birder's Handbook didn't say, so let's ask the blackbird:

"Mpph mmmph mmmph, mppph mppphhhh moppphh!"

Well, there you have it.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Forster's Terns Again

I've been practicing my tern photography. Even though they are screeching past at rocket-like ninja speeds, I've figured out a few things that helped me get some slightly better shots.

First, the terns are somewhat predictable. They fly in big loops around a certain area (often the bird islands) again and again. So if you miss once, just wait a bit and you'll get a second chance.

Second, the camera's autofocus is way too slow. So to compensate, hold the button halfway and keep on holding it, locking in the focus at the right depth. Even if it takes 5 minutes for the tern to come back.

Third, do not attempt to photograph terns when there are geese nearby.

I also got some blurry photos that serve to illustrate how terns hunt:

Scope out the scene. Fly in a big loop.

Look straight down. There's gotta be a fish somewhere in all that algae.

Swoop down and investigate. Nope, that's not a fish.

Back up for another look. Hover. Oh THERE it is!

And SPLASH!

Gloat. Nyeh-nyeh, I got you fishy!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Ultimate Fluff Parade

I thought there were a lot of geese around before, but MAN! Tom and I stumbled upon the opposite of an elephant graveyard: a gosling nursery! We counted 33 goslings total! So many we couldn't even get them all in the frame. How many can you find in this picture?

Here they are grazing happily:

But when they notice people getting too close, they run to mom for safety. "Mom! Hide us under your wing! We want to cuddle!"

"And also we'd like to use your back as a slide!"

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Pelican Fishing

I was lucky enough to catch the resident white pelican doing a little late-afternoon fishing.

I mentioned before that white pelicans usually fish as a flock, herding the fish into a tight school of easily scooped-up morsels. This one is all alone, but still manages to catch lunch. It uses its beak like a net, sweeping it in an arc and scooping up anything in its path. In the shallow water near shore, each time it scooped, the pelican scraped the muddy bottom and stirred up a lot of silt in the process. Was it searching specifically for bottom-dwelling fish? It didn't seem to mind eating a bit of mud in the process. I noticed that this pelican seems to be right-beaked: it always scooped to the right.