Desert stuff and water

Last week, I went to the Borrego Springs area. I used to go there more often in the past, but with high gas prices, it made it too expensive to do so. When I went, it was very nice with mostly clear skies and mild temperatures. I went out to look for birds, mostly.

The first place I went to was Peña Springs in the Culp Valley area of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. I've been there many times and have even done artwork based on that area. The funniest thing is that I can never find the actual spring though I look really hard for it. Someone will have to show me where it is sometime. Springs are interesting places to visit as they often attract a lot of animals, especially in the summer. If you do visit a spring during the warmer months, be respectful and limit your stay. That way, the animals won't have to wait too long to get their water.

Here are some photos of the landscape:

On the way down to Borrego Springs, I noticed, for the first time, that there are two large solar farm in the valley. I love green power, but I worry about the birds. At first, this one looked like it was a lake, which made me worried. However, the panels were all propped up at an angle. I noticed when I was driving level that it emitted a bright shine.

This one has flat panels, but they are dark, so they don't look like water. I am not sure about hot hot they get, but not all solar panels heat up. I didn't actually visit the farms or talk to anyone from them, so I don't know much about them except what I can see from a distance.

I heard there was a rare bird over at Rams Hill, a resort-residential area that has long been established. I also heard that the golf clubhouse has good food at reasonable prices. The area is restricted and you're not allowed to visit unless you are going to the golf course or clubhouse. You must check in with the guard. Once you're there, you can walk on the golf cart trails, though.

They have very nice water features there. I really enjoyed the landscaping which attracted a lot of migratory birds. I guess there's been controversy over Rams Hill having so much water as there are water issues in the Borrego Valley. I'm not sure if those issues with Rams Hill were resolved or if they have found a compromise, but that wasn't why I was there.

Lots of coots there, enjoying the water and warm weather, plus they fertilize the greens. I wish I took a photo of the clubhouse. But, since they have good food, I may be back anyway.

Oh, and the rare bird, an Inca dove, was not found that day.

Happy New Year!

Wow, it got really cold, too!  And, on at least two freezing cold (or below freezing cold) days, I had to get up early to go count birds! Today was one of those two days. You can see a little bit about today's count on Killdeers, Phoebes and Finches, my bird blog.

I haven't done anything for New Years since I was half my age, so I didn't do anything last night. We had snow relatively close to town a couple of days ago. Today, so many people went to Julian, a small historic mining town in the mountains, that Julian closed the town down, pretty much.  Well, not really, but they were asking people not to bother coming up there. Apparently, traffic was backed up all the way to El Cajon the way people were talking.

Not much happened in town on Christmas. It was a nice day and I went down to Lake Murray to see the ducks and loons. Arthritis duck is was still there, but last Tuesday, he was shivering in the cold, so I am worried about him. I haven't checked on him in the last few days, so I don't know what is going on with him.

Even though it was cold, it was a nice day to do stuff. I'm glad I didn't go to Julian. I've experienced enough snow as a kid when I lived in Detroit, so I don't care if I see any. I might go up to Julian later as I like the tea shop up there.

My Eskimo Curlew Obsession

I wrote this about my Eskimo Curlew obsession.  Since I've written this article, the Squidoo site was merged with HubPages.  The link still works, but you will be directed to HubPages instead of Squidoo.

Eskimo Curlew Painting in the last 1880s
by Archibald Thorburn (1860 - 1935).

A lot of people know that my favorite bird is the killdeer, but, I'm also obsessed with Eskimo curlews. It all started when I saw (or saw again), the ABC Afterschool Special and read the book by Fred Bodsworth called "Last of the Curlews". It was a sad story about a lone male curlew in search of a mate, and then finds one, only to lose her at the very end of what was a promising travel back to the nesting area. The whole story of the Eskimo curlew was a very sad one that may have ended in extinction. But, I deeply hope that is not the case.

The Eskimo curlew was the smallest curlew in the Americas and was once the most numerous shorebirds in the region. It looked a lot like the whimbrel which is still pretty plentiful in most areas today. It had a remarkable migration going from the top of the Earth in the high arctic, almost all the way down to the tip of South America, though not quite as far as the red knot or arctic tern does. Like many birds in the mid to late 1800s in the United States, it was hunted mercilessly and went from multiple millions of birds to practically none in about twenty years. The bird had an endearing characteristic of returning to comfort its hurt mates and colleagues when they were shot or injured. Hunters took this as stupidity and this trait of the curlews made it easier to mow down huge flocks of these birds for the market.

Even when this bird became extremely rare, it continued to be shot by collectors wanting to be the ones to have one of the last Eskimo curlews in its existence. With the passage of the Migratory Bird Act in 1918, most of the shooting stopped, but it was too late. The bird was considered extinct in the 1940s, but was re-found in the 1950s. A pair of birds was frequently seen in Texas each year from the late 1950s to early 1960s when the two were photographed. One bird was shot in Barbados in 1963. This ends the last official records of the species. But, other sightings were confirmed up to the 1980s. There have even been fairly credible sightings up until the early to mid-2000s.

I maintain a page on Squidoo about Eskimo curlew sightings. One of the problems that people seem to be having is distinguishing the curlew from the whimbrel. Most people alive now have never seen an Eskimo curlew even in a museum. Skins of the bird are not common and only a handful museums display mounted specimens and mostly in the states where the specimen was obtained. Most skins are kept locked up and one has to get special permission to view and study them up close. Juvenile whimbrels can look very much like Eskimo curlews, especially far out on a mud flat. Many people also confuse Eskimo curlews with long-billed curlews. Even back in the 1960s, with photographs and a specimen, even sighting was highly scrutinized. Without physical proof, no sighting of this bird will ever be accepted now. Since the bird was, more or less, officially declared extinct this year after 50 years of lack of physical proof, I haven't heard of a single sighting where I usually hear of at least two or three a year.

Herons eat just about anything!

Earlier this year, I witnessed some recently fledged herons at Lake Murray hunting squirrels.  I wrote this article about it:

When some people look at herons, they see either an unusual bird or a majestic bird. They move with beautiful rhythms and look stately and noble, especially the tall great blue heron. But, behind these interesting looking birds is a vicious killer that will eat just about anything and anyone. Large herons, like the great blue, also have "eyes bigger than their stomachs" and will kill prey much larger than they can eat.

Many people I've come across are surprised when I tell them what herons eat. People seem to assume that they only eat fish and maybe a frog or two. I used to think that until, one day, I came upon a black-crowned night heron hunting ground squirrels. Later, I found out through observation, that ground squirrels were a regular on many heron species' menus. Their job is made easier when people leave food out for the squirrels, setting the table for the predators.

Another common prey for herons is birds. Herons will eat any kind of bird they can catch, usually when the bird is unaware. I've seen them go after killdeer, for example. They will also eat ducklings, coots, baby grebes, and even nearly-grown clapper rails. Ducklings aren't safe from the herons until they are, at least, four weeks old. Even then, there might be an ambitious heron that might go after them at that size.

But, fish and amphibians do make up the bulk of most herons' diets. They also will eat rats and other rodents and sometimes snakes and lizards. Fish seems to be their favorite. It would seem they would seek fish, first, and if anything else is around, they will try to grab it. I've seen ducklings swimming around near herons being ignored because the fishing was good. Some of the prey herons eat also prey on young waterfowl, thus balancing things out.

Herons hunt with slow, methodical, stalking. Their slow movements put prey at ease and sometimes the target forgets they're there. Then, once the heron has inched within striking range, they grab their prey quickly. They seem to have the greatest patience of all hunters. They will stalk their prey for long periods and even when they miss, they begin again with more stalking.

Where I live in San Diego, we have several species of herons living in the same area ranging from small to big. Great blue herons are the most common, but we have yellow and black-crowned night herons, green herons, least bitterns and sometimes American bitterns. Herons are everywhere around here.

Remembering my first birding trip to the Tijuana River Mouth in 2013

Back in April 2013, I did my first birding trip to the Tijuana River Mouth where I saw snowy plovers and other birds getting ready for migration.  I have been back since then, most recently when they huge shoals of anchovies arrived and thousands of birds took advantage of them.

In early April, 2013, I made my first trip to the mouth of the Tijuana River to do some birding. Though I have been birding for over three years in San Diego and Imperial Counties, I haven't been to this "hot spot" of local birding, yet, though I've heard a lot about it. Recently, a Wilson's plover was seen in the area. Wilson's plovers are rare in this area and most of the time; they stay south of the U.S. border, except for summer visits along the Gulf of Mexico, east coast, and the very south part of Florida.

The closest place to park was at the end of Seacoast Drive in Imperial Beach. From there, you can see the Tijuana River flowing down towards the mouth. In this area, you can often see waterfowl and herons and, perhaps, a rare light-footed clapper rail. There is an observation deck situated over the marshy area. Where I had to be was about a 20-30 minute walk south which can be awkward if you're carrying tripods, scopes, cameras and the like. I walked along the edge of an area roped off for the least tern and snowy plovers to nest until I reached where it ended and set up my equipment.

In front of me was a flock of black-bellied plovers turning into their breeding plumage. 

There were several tiny western sandpipers; some of them were half-buried in the sand. sandpipers were running all about.They seemed to be the most bold of all the birds there, coming very close to me. 

A couple dozen snowy plovers were running around in the more sandy areas nearby.

Not far from me was a large flock of terns and gulls, screeching and flying all around. Pelicans, both brown and white, sat on a mud patch. One thing I enjoyed was the plentiful long-billed curlews flying and calling all around. They seem to like to fight with each other. A whimbrel tried to fly into their area and was chased off.

I tried to take pictures through my scope, but I just haven't gotten the hang of it, yet. I did manage to take several pictures with my normal camera lens. Just after I started to leave, a family came by and started flying a kite, causing all the birds to fly off and scatter all around. They were reacting to it like it was a falcon. Just a few minutes ago, they seemed calm, but were now agitated. Needless to say, the family got a good talking to by Fish and Game officials about that.

I didn't see the Wilson's plover.

Sources:
Though I used most of my own personal experience in this article, here are some helpful links:

Wilson Plover ID
Snow Plover ID
Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve website.

George the killdeer and the killdeer blog

In late 2010, I wrote about one of my other blogs here on Blogger:  Killdeers, Phoebes and Finches.  I also talked about George the Killdeer as well.  George was a real killdeer, but he may have passed away recently as I haven't seen him for at least a year.  He left Lake Murray in 2011 or 2012, but returned each year with his family.  You will find this blog in my lists of blogs on this site.

You can also find out more about George and his family at:   http://shorebirdie.hubpages.com/hub/georgethekilldeer

Killdeers, phoebes and finches (and ducks!) is a blog that I am currently keeping on a family of killdeer at Lake Murray in San Diego, California. 

One might wonder what, exactly, a killdeer is? A killdeer is a plover, a shorebird, but they have adapted themselves to living close to people and away from the shore. Most killdeer need some kind of permanent fresh water nearby for their daily requirements. However, a small drainage ditch or creek is more than enough for a killdeer to live a good life provided that there is always drinkable water. Killdeers like to live in open areas like golf courses, airfields, farms, fields, and, of course, on a beach.

Killdeers are mostly brown and white and are distinguished from other plovers by their double banded breast-marks and necks. They are about the size of a mourning dove with long, stilt-like legs. They often nest in the open and divert predators with a broken-wing act. Both parents usually care for the eggs and chicks. Their eggs look a lot like rocks and can be easily missed if they're laid in a rocky area. Their chicks hatch after about 24-28 days and the babies can run within hours of hatching.

Killdeers, phoebes and finches (and ducks!) talks about killdeers, chicks, ducks, and other birds that live around the lake. There are stories about chicks, ducklings, and other babies that hatched or were born in the summer. Raptors are also mentioned as are other shore and water birds.

So, if one is interested in birds, especially in the San Diego area, check out Killdeers, phoebes and finches (and ducks!). The main killdeer family in the blog, headed by a male killdeer named "George" (also called M2 in the blog) can also be chronicled on Twitter as @killdeergeorge or by clicking on the link in his name above.

Remembering Martha and her Kind

Martha probably never knew how special she was.  She probably never knew she was the last of her kind and no more of her family existed anywhere.  She spent most of her life in the Cincinnati Zoo where she passed away on September 1st, 1914, exactly 100 years ago.

Martha, stuffed, in 1921
Photo by Robert W. Shufledt  

Passenger pigeons once filled the sky in various areas east of the Mississippi River.  They traveled in one huge flock from food source to food source and nesting site to nesting site.  They were often seen flying over in large groups for days.  People often described the loud beating of their wings as they massed in such a large flock.  Europeans often considered them a pest, native people considered them a blessing from the creator.  No one ever thought they could go extinct.  Then, one day, they were gone pretty much all of a sudden.

For at least a few thousand years, perhaps longer, native peoples lived alongside the pigeons with no problem.  The pigeon squabs were collected by the native people before they fledged.  The people used an almost unlimited number of squabs for food.  But,  they never seemed to have affected the population despite the heavy harvest.  One thing native people's tended not to do is hunt the adults during nesting season (though some tribes didn't totally ban hunting the nesting birds, they did hunt them less at this time).

The white man, however, hunted them at any time all the time whenever he saw them.  The market hunters in the 1800s would wipe out large numbers of adult birds at one time.  They also cleared more and larger tracks of the forests that supplied the pigeons with food.  This led to a rapid decline of the pigeons as well as other species, like the Eskimo curlew, the most numerous shorebird in the world at that time.  After about forty years, all that was left was Martha.  People killed them all off.

People tried to save the pigeon, but many people saw the pigeon as a pest and in abundance, so they didn't think it really needed saving.

One thing Martha has taught modern people is that you shouldn't take advantage of any species just because they're abundant to the point of being a pest.  For example, Canada geese, at one time, were so reduced that people rarely saw them.  Now, they're everywhere.  The same with white-tailed deer.

I am reading A Feathered River Across the Sky.  It's a bit wordy, but contains a lot of information on the passenger pigeon and it's relationship with human beings.  You can buy it by clicking the link below.

Band-Tailed Pigeon by Tyler Karaszewski
https://www.flickr.com/people/tylerkaraszewski/

The band-tailed pigeon is a local relative of the passenger pigeon.  It doesn't live in large flocks, but does like to gather in the mountain forests of the west.  There are efforts to clone and re-create a passenger pigeon and the band-tailed pigeon will be both the host for the clone and a source of DNA to fill the gaps in the DNA already extracted from mounted specimens.

I once came across the band-tailed pigeon who had accidentally strayed west of the mountains.  They are a large pigeon and usually solitary or in pairs.  It, promptly flew off.








I found this interesting article while researching Passenger Pigeons.  It explains more about them than I can say in this blog:

A Feathered Tempest

De-extinction Projects to Resurrect Extinct Species

The 100th anniversary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon is coming up very soon.  It's a sad anniversary and shows that just because an species is abundant doesn't mean it won't quickly go extinct.  The passenger pigeon extinction shows us that we shouldn't take advantage of the abundance of a species.

Here is an article I wrote last year about de-extinction projects to possibly bring back extinct species, at least their essence, though advanced cloning techniques.

Passenger Pigeon by Tim Krepp

There once was a time when there were different species of birds whose populations were so numerous that they were said to darken the skies for days as they passed over. At one time, there was an animal that helped thin out forests in Europe and became the ancestor of modern cattle. Once, there was a colorful parakeet that lived farther north than any other parakeet and was easy to tame. At one time, the booming sounds of a chicken-like bird could easily be heard around well populated towns of the eastern United States. But, no more, those animals are extinct.

But, perhaps they aren't gone forever. New technology and scientific knowledge may bring those animals back into existence. Stewart Brand mentioned several projects currently going on to bring several species back to life in his TED talk in February 2013. Among the species currently being worked on are the passenger pigeon, auroch, and the buccardo. During the talk, Brand mentioned several projects involving new techniques with cloning using related host species and back-breeding.

Besides the projects mentioned in Stewart Brand's talks, several other projects are well on their way to restore certain species. In South Africa, efforts are going on to restore the quagga, which was once considered an extinct species. With modern genetic studies, it was found that quaggas are actually a concentrated race of plains zebra that lived in South Africa. Plains zebra often exhibit variations in their stripes and patterns, including the lack of stripes on some parts of the body. While their project has had some successes, they are still a long way to completely replicating an actual quagga similar to the ones captured or killed in the late 19th century.

More projects could be in the works as the cost is decreased and cloning is perfected. Imagine a world where Eskimo curlew, the great auk, and the Labrador duck are still seen in their natural habitat like they were over a hundred years ago. It will be a long time before longer-extinct species such as mammoths and woolly rhinos come back into existence. There are other considerations such as whether there is an environment to come back to. Questions as to whether or not these "re-made" animals can survive in the wild at all or what impact would they have on existing animals that have filled in the gaps they left when they went extinct.

I, for one, would love to see some of these animals come back into existence. I feel that the people of the past deprived me of seeing many of them, especially the ones that went extinct in the early 20th century. I would like to see how they looked and behaved, even if they're only kept in captivity or for scientific research. I would love to hear the sound of the Eskimo curlew or see the beauty of the Carolina parakeet. Of course, none of these animals would be exactly like their extinct counterparts due to the difficulty of extracting their DNA from long dead specimens.

Sources:
Stewart Brand: The dawn of de-extinction. Are you ready?
The Quagga Project

Don't dump your ducks in the lake!

I originally wrote this in 2010, but I thought I would bring this up because we are in the middle of duck dumping season which usually starts about 5-6 months after Easter.  I have another page on Squidoo called Life of Dumped Duckies

Many people get ducks as ducklings for pets or for Easter presents without realizing what they're getting involved in. Unfortunately, many of these ducks end up being left at a public park or lake, or escaping to one. People dump ducks off for various reasons. Some did not realize the nature of the ducks and their needs when they got the ducklings and had to find a place for them quickly. Others may have been forced to give up their ducks after their city code enforcement officer told them that poultry was not allowed where they live. Still others may have had too many drakes or had personality problems with their ducks and didn't have the heart to sell them for slaughter or couldn't find them good homes. Whatever the reason, people often leave their ducks out in the cold at their local lakes. 

I've heard people say that they've dropped off their ducks at the local lake and their ducks fit right in and did fine. Others say that it's good to drop unwanted ducks off at the lake because they will get fed and be free to be ducks. But, many of those people do not realize the harm that they do.

The biggest is that domestic ducks are very vulnerable to predators. Most common domestic breeds, especially runners and Pekins, can't fly. Most lakes have some kind of predator around, such as hawks, coyotes, foxes, and even domestic cats are dangerous to ducks. Domestic ducks, not only being not able to fly well, are often not aware of how to evade predators. Some of these ducks may have grown up around another family pet like a dog or cat and think they're all the same and try to be friendly to them.

Another issue that these "drop-offs" have is that they can often carry diseases that the wild ducks may be vulnerable of, or vice-versa. Many domestic ducks also have other health issues that their wild cousins might not have to deal with and could spread diseases to the wild flock. Large ducks originally bred for meat will often have leg problems, especially as they get older. Some domestics will not live very long even if they're kept fed and otherwise healthy in a wild setting.

Domestic ducks also cause problems with the population of wild ducks. For example, most wild ducks are great fliers as it's their main means of escaping predators and finding food. However, when they breed with domestic ducks, their offspring often can't fly or fly very well. Soon, there are too many ducks in one area that can't leave on their own and can't be captured and adopted due to them being wild. This can affect the ecosystem as it tries to support a large population of waterfowl all year long and can be detrimental to all wildlife. This may result in more illnesses and even starvation of some species. Not all lakes allow people to feed ducks and dropping off domestic ducks may result in their starvation if there are too many other ducks and wildlife using the ecosystem.

If someone is in the need of finding a home for their pet duck, there might be some alternatives to "dumping" them:

Place an ad on sites like Craigslist and other areas where they sell or deal with waterfowl. There's a site called Backyard Chickens which has a duck forum as well as a selling/swapping forum to find people who may be looking for certain types of ducks. It can be emphasized that they are to go to pet homes only, if necessary.

Ask the local humane society about placing ducks up for adoption, inquire about if they euthanize, and how long they keep them.

Post an ad at the local feed or tractor supply store.

If you have any kind of duck rescue or sanctuary, ask them if they have any advice.

So, don't drop those ducks off at the local lake! Not only is it bad for them and everyone else already there, they would miss their human companion whom they trusted.