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.

Flounder and Scuttle: a true life tale

Uh - well - first, uhh, this shark chased us - yeah - yeah! And we tried to - but we couldn't - and - grrrrrrrrr - and - and we - whoooaaaaaa - oh, and then we were safe. But then this seagull came, and it was this is this, and that is that, and...

AND THEN IT ATE ME!

As it turns out, Flounder was too big for Scuttle to swallow.

But, as we know, seagulls are flying (of course they were flying)... and they're out to discover... easy meals they can steal from their neighbors.

Filthy little hobbitses. They stole it from us.

American White Pelican

There is one white pelican that lives at Lake Merritt. The caretaker told us that it had an injured wing that healed badly, and so it was brought to Lake Merritt to live, since it can't fly anymore. They feed it fish to make sure that it's getting enough to eat, now that it doesn't have a flock to herd fish with, as it normally would. The fish probably is delivered in plastic bags, which is why if you approach the feeding gate holding a plastic bag, the pelican comes right up like a hungry stray dog. If pelicans would pant, I think this one would be panting.

One thing that's cool about pelicans is that their feet are webbed across all four toes. Other web-footed birds, like geese, have webbing across 3 toes, and then a stumpy little thumb doodad.




Also, hygiene is tricky if you're a pelican. With that giant beak, it can be hard to groom your armpits...


or brush in those hard to reach spots... like that fluffy bit on top of your head. Plus it's hard to wipe your beak free of coffee grounds, milk, or giant bumps on your beak.


Just kidding. The giant bump (and possibly the extra tuftyness) are actually there because It's Business Time for pelicans. That's also why the pelican's beak is a sexy and garish bright orange. Mmm.... carotenoids....

This picture makes me laugh because it looks like the pelican is wearing a tiny egret for a hat.


Here, the pelican demonstrates why it can't fly... but it's a chamption when it comes to doing The Robot. Also, check out the black wingtips. Black pigment makes the feathers more durable, and since flight feathers get totally punched in the face by the wind when birds fly, they can't just wimp out and be all "I'm raggedy and old cuz you flew on me too much!" No. They must be strong. Thus, white wingtips are Out this evolutionary season, and black is the new.... Black.


Finally, here is the pelican doing something weird. I didn't get a great shot, but it was pecking at the spigot and clacking its beak.


In conclusion, pelicans: cool.