Sass Factor 5: American Coots

If you are an animal, spring usually means it's time to get your breeding on. Coots are no exception, and they're particularly visible when it comes to reproductive madness. GW Gullion, whose paper on coot displays I also read, has another paper on the red bump of coots. Apparently most migratory coots don't have one during winter, when they are away from their home territory:

But in spring, the testosterone of both males and females sparks the growth of a reddish callus:

...which can get gigantic and menacing.

I took all these coot pictures on the same day. So, why do they have different sized bumps? Gullion says that the most dominant coots--those defending a territory--are the ones with the biggest bumps, and the others are lower on the pecking order. Some coots stay on a territory year-round, and keep their red shield, too. I am wondering, do coots on Lake Merrit have a territory? Do they actually nest there? They are supposed to prefer freshwater. I've never seen a baby coot at the Lake. What are they defending if not nest sites? Are they just testosterone fueled jerks that will fight regardless?

Gullion also argues that coots may recognize each other by the callus, as well, since sometimes they will try to fight their mates until they see their partner's face.

Next time I'm out I'll see if I can compare the faces of the attacking coots and the fleeing coots.

Good OLD Lake Merritt

The Oakland Museum of California has a pretty cool "virtual collection" of old postcards, photos, posters, and other ephemera. You can search it by Oakland neighborhood, so naturally I used it to see what Lake Merritt looked like back in the day.

1977


1985

One thing I noticed was that there are several duck species in these photos that I have never seen at the lake. In the picture below, you can see a few wigeon(s?) just underneath the swan.

And in this photo you can see an entire horde of pintails thronging to be fed.

1920

I'm wondering if old photos like these have ever been used to collect data on population size.


1922


1920-1950


1930

Never underestimate the importance of a body language (HA!)

One topic that's more easily researched via the internet is the American Coot. Many of the papers available online were written by one Gordon G. Gullion, who studied coots back in the 1950s, right here in Lake Temescal and Jewel Lake (in Tilden). One of his papers that I got interested in describes the displays, or body language, or the coots. I started looking for these different supermodel poses on the coots of Lake Merritt and trying to capture them. Here are a few of the displays he describes:

1. Charging. One coot sees another one getting too close to its space, or its lady, or its bit of goopy algae. It raises its little neck feathers, puts down its head, and rushes toward the offending coot. FIERCE!



2. Paired Display, which Gullion says is a sort of pacification gesture that both coots do after the aggression is over: "Sorry I charged you, man."

"That's cool, that's cool. I was going back to my own side of the lake anyway."


Here's a link to another interesting article about coots.

Dead things, or, The Ciiiiiircle of Liiiiiife.

For the first part of the circle of life: here are two of the many Brewers' blackbirds that have shown up around the lake, ready to make a bunch of babies. They typically perch up high (like on the sycamore gnarls) and do their little "CHK" song, indicating that they will totally murder you if you if you go near the place they intend to nest. Lady blackbirds dig a dude who isn't afraid to attack something 100 times his size. Dude b-bird is on the left, lady b-bird on the right. Hard to tell in this shot, but she's the brown and sassy one, while he's an iridescent black bundle of rage.

****Part 2: DEATH. Warning, pictures of dead birds coming up!*******


Much like a naughty cat, Tom demonstrates his love for me by showing me dead things that he's found. It's a chance to look at animals more closely, since they aren't running away from you, or even moving. Today he pointed me to this ex-pigeon, found beneath a telephone pole.


We speculate that a hawk (maybe the Cooper's we've seen feasting on squab over the garage?) probably perched on the pole, ate the breast meat, and dropped the rest down for the cockroaches and feral cats.

Nom.

This seems to be a characteristic of the well-fed hawks around here; they'll only eat the choicest cut and leave the rest. Are they full? lazy? Or incapable of picking off smaller pieces? ("You have killed 10 pounds of pigeon, but can only carry 1 back to the wagon.")


Other things also die around Lake Merritt, from various other causes:

Roadkill possum (that's what you GET for being in the bike lane!):
Mystery coot:

With a cool lobed foot.

This coot also looks to have had its tasty flight muscles munched by a hawk. That or it choked after eating that entire package of Mambas.


And a Common Goldeneye killed by a feral cat and dragged beneath a bush:


Q: But Lisa, how do you know this ribcage belongs to a goldeneye? A: I found the body a few days before this photo was taken, and at that time all the feathers and the head were still on it. Naturally I didn't bring my camera that day, so I just poked it with a stick and vowed to come back next time it stopped raining.

I found these bones near the boathouse beach I like to call "Skeleton Cove!" Not only because it adds a tinge of piratey goodness, but also because, well, there are so many bones down there. Either the cats have been verrry busy, or the current washes every drowned mariner and bloated raccoon to that exact spot.

Other dead things found but not photographed at the Lake include: Canada geese killed by off-leash dogs, and a racoon that apparently fell out of a tree and died. "DOH!"