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No salesman will call, at least not from us. Maybe from someone else.
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is well known among SoCal birders for the many birds wintering there, but the big numbers show up in the spring when the terns come to nest. I believe that as many as ten species of tern have appeared there, although not all nest. Some just drop by because they see so many other terns coming and going.
Readers of our blog know that flying helicopter drones is illegal in many places—all of Malibu for starters, and State Parks as well. Yet people break these laws daily. They always claim ignorance, but when you tell them it’s illegal and they shouldn’t do it, they often tell you where to go in no uncertain terms. So it’s not just ignorance that’s at work here.
In May several drones were seen flying over the Bolsa Chica nesting area. One crashed, and authorities are tracking down the owner. Apparently this spooked the birds so badly that nests were abandoned—some reports say 1,500 nests, some say 2,000, others say 3,000—and the nesting sands are littered with broken eggshells.
Here’s a link to an AP story on the US News website:
And another on the local Daily News website, which may or may not be accessible to you.
Lastly, the New York Times from June 4.
Trimming your trees in SoCal
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Our friendly neighboring Audubon Chapter, Los Angeles Audubon Society, has a handy booklet on tree-trimming do’s and don’t when birds are, or may be, using them for nesting or roosting. You can print your own 6-page copy for free by following the link below.
On our SMBAS blog site in the right-side column of web-links, look under “Plant Links” for “Tree-trimming in SoCal.”
Or go to https://www.laaudubon.org/resources “Urban Nature Resources,” scroll down to Bird-Friendly Tree Trimming, and select either English or Spanish.
Los Angeles County has more than 350 species of birds that live, nest, or pass through during annual migrations, and there are more than 120 species that live here year-round. Therefore, maintaining adequate green space for birds is critical. Birds are beautiful, economically important, and they are a bellwether of the health of our environment.
[Posted by Chuck Almdale, suggested by Grace Murayama]
Grace writes in:
In case anyone missed the Los Angeles Times article, in print 5/31/21, “A new state quarantine, but it’s not for that“, re: warning not to eat locally harvested shellfish ( mussels, clams, oysters, scallops), marine biotoxins, algae, domoic acid, paralytic shellfish poisoning, etc.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Officials with the Orange County Health Care Agency, the body tasked with oversight of public health programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, on Thursday announced a different kind of quarantine would be imposed through October: on mussels for human consumption.
Through Oct. 31, residents across California are being warned not to eat mussels and other potentially toxic shellfish collected by sports harvesters from coastal waters.
The reason? Harmful marine biotoxins produced by some species of microscopic algae can be absorbed by the digestive systems of mussels, clams, oysters and scallops. The consumption of affected mollusks puts humans at risk of paralytic shellfish poisoning.
Break Glass in Case of Emergency | Eileen Sorg
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
“Break Glass in case of Emergency.” Painting by Eileen Sorg
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. For me, this image embodies that sentiment and there is no doubt that this group of hummingbirds will get to their reward one way or another. — Eileen Sorg
My sister-in-law Diana received this card from her daughter; she then emailed a photo of it to us. Diana’s photo has a bit more clarity than the image above, which I found on the web. I mention this because it means Eileen Sorg’s artwork has excellent, clear detail, better than what I am able to reproduce here. I believe the above painting is done in colored pencil, as is much of her work.
This is not an advertisement. Neither SMBAS nor myself nor anyone I know is getting any commissions from this. I like Sorg’s artwork for it’s combination of attention to detail, humor, fantasy, composition, skill, and her inclusion of real, identifiable birds. I think many others will like it as well. There’s quite a selection on her website https://twodogstudio.com/. Her work is sold as either cards or large prints.
Here’s a few more:
Pacific Loon in breeding plumage at Malibu Lagoon
[Posted by Chuck Almdale, photos by Chris Tosdevin]
Chris Tosdevin found a Pacific Loon in full breeding (alternate) plumage sitting on the edge of Malibu Lagoon this morning (Sunday, 5-23-21). Loons have generally left by this time of year, and he wondered what May records I have for it.
I can’t recall seeing Pacific Loon in breeding plumage in SoCal before. I do have records for them in May, so they were probably at least well on their way into breeding plumage, but they offshore—distant, small, taking long dives for fish or disappearing frequently behind incoming waves. Hard to see, in other words. Certainly not conveniently sitting at the edge of the lagoon, looking out over the algae.
My ‘loon history’ is below. Only eight sightings in May. That’s out of 287 census dates since October 1979, including 24 dates in May.
The eight Pacific Loons previously sighted in May consisted of:
1- 5/24/15, 1 – 5/25/14, 5 – 5/23/10, 1 – 5/24/09.
This is a really stunning bird. I wish I’d seen it.
Loons have webbed feet and are wonderful swimmers, diving deeply. Their legs are far back on their bodies, relative to ducks. This makes them poorly balanced on land, and it is very difficult for them to walk. Their nests are always placed close to water. When they’re not nesting, they’re in the water, including when they sleep. If you see a loon on land away from its nesting grounds, and you rarely will, it may be sick or wounded.
The Pacific Loon’s scientific name is Gavia pacifica; Gavia began as Latin for “gull,” which was fine many centuries ago when just about anything on the water and not a duck might be called a gull and no one cared. The choice of Gavia for the loons was made in 1789 by Johann Reinhold Forster (1729-1798), who sailed with Captain Cook in 1772 in his circumnavigation of the world.
The name “Loon” is a corruption of Shetlandic loom, from Icelandic lomr, and from Danish or Swedish lom. They all mean “lame,” in reference to their awkward manner of walking on land. The British call them “Divers.”
The phrase “crazy as a loon” may refer to the similarity of its call to insane laughter, which you may sometimes hear issuing from the “loony bin.”
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 