Beach buzzards
Think of a shorebird. I’m guessing that a godwit, or whimbrel, or sanderling came to mind. What about a turkey vulture?
Certainly not among my list of shorebirds, and yet, I see turkey vultures on my beach walks about as often as I see godwits and whimbrels.
I’ve blogged about them here annually. But they’re not a popular read (jellies and jelly blobs are preferred). So I’ve added Turkey Vultures to my Creature Features to make their story more accessible. I’ll probably keep writing about them because they’re fascinating and should be appreciated for their extremely important role in nature.
If you want to learn about how great and gorgeous turkey vultures are, here’s more detail from me. Other posts that include turkey vultures are Dead on a Beach and my first sighting, Vultures on the Beach.
Fog
I wrote about our local June gloom — thick marine layer (fog) — in a June 2013 post. Since that post explains the why behind the cloudy days, for this post I’ll just show you this year’s gloom. Fortunately, the clouds aren’t lasting all day each day on the coast, but we still wake to gray.
Enjoy the soft, cool, changing light.
Twice in my three decades living on the Monterey Peninsula I’ve witnessed two invasions by pelagic red crabs, also called tuna crabs, or langostino by some. These are spectacular and rare occurrences along our coast, although we’ve had a couple this year, the most recent last week. The first local invasion that I could find mention of was in 1895 (Boyd 1967).
A pelagic red crab (Pleuroncodes planipes) looks like a small lobster — it’s even called a squat lobster — about 5 inches (13 cm) long. They’re part of the “micronecton,” that is, small swimming marine organisms that live in the water column. Adults tend to live closer to the bottom and feed on plankton near the surface. However, they’re swimming abilities are limited and they’re easily caught up in tides and currents. As a result, they sometimes end up in the wrong place (for a pelagic crab), like our Monterey Bay beaches.
This year, as with the last invasion I observed in the early 1980s, was an El Niño year, a natural recurring event (every 7 years or so) when waters off Peru and Ecuador become unusually warm, changing Pacific water flow and weather worldwide. The sight of red crabs indicates warm subtropical waters moving northward off the west coast of the U.S. These crabs are most typically found off Baja California and in the Gulf of California, although they are seen off Chile and up to Washington state.
The brightly colored crabs not only attract the attention of people, but that of shorebirds, especially gulls. They were gorging themselves on the bounty in the shallow water, jumping the waves and trying to avoid one another. The crabs are probably a welcome, easy, tasty meal. Many gulls looked too full to move.
While researching this post, I found a Yummly page with red crab recipes. If gulls, tuna and whales can enjoy them, why not people? Although, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography recommends not eating red crabs because of possible toxins (of which significant amounts were found in shellfish this year causing a long delay to the opening of the Dungeness crab season). If not edible, the display is certainly a shoreline spectacle.
References & Sources
Boyd, C.M. (1987). The Benthic and Pelagic Habitats of the Red Crab, Pleuroncodes planipes. Pacific Science XXI (3): 394-403.
National Marine Sanctuaries. Pelagic Red Crabs.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography UCSD. Red Crabs Invade San Diego Shores.
Song sparrow
Everywhere I walk this time of year I hear, and often see, song sparrows singing. They have a distinctive and melodious song. So I’m sharing with you my collection of these songsters.
While reading up on song sparrows, I learned that the males are the singers and the females do most of the nest-making. He sings, she builds. Then they both care for the young. Listen while you walk and you may hear him, too.
Gone too long
It’s been awhile since I posted here. I guess too much work and life, and not enough time to write. I’ll be on vacation this week, walking the coast of Northern California and birding. I plan to blog each each day…. we’ll see.
In the meantime, here are some shots from this past week at a local park and brackish lagoon — Laguna Grande. A great place for coastal urban birding. Enjoy.
WordCraft.NatureFocus 