Subject: Re: This morning's aftermath, and Phalaropes.
Date: Dec 13 12:01:20 1995
From: Alvaro Jaramillo - alvaro at quake.net


>Here are a few post-storm notes.

The storm (I imagine its the same one) went through the SF Bay Area on
Monday night, it was a powerful one, knocking down the fence in my backyard!
I am not sure how bad it was elsewhere around here, but it was really
violent here on the coast. The winds died down at noon yesterday and then
the sun came out, so I went out to see if any weird stuff showed up on the
beach.
The waves were incredible yesterday and the swell still (Wednesday
morning) has not let up even though the winds have long died down. I imagine
that some dead birds will eventually wash up on the beach, but perhaps the
swell is still too rough to deposit anything as I have found no new corpses.
The gull numbers have increased on the beach, but probably because there is
now lots of fresh water around to bathe in, not because the storm pushed
them out from anywhere else. However one of these pools did have a beautiful
first winter Red Phalarope spinning around (just like a shoveler!),
obviously here because of the storm. It was a great look and I was able to
learn its sharp 'tik' call note. The beach had been severely narrowed and
many of the waves were crashing clear over the sand to the backed up creek
on the other side of the dune, if the creek fills up any more it will break
through to the ocean finally. The one high part of the beach was where all
the Snowy Plovers were, 44 of them! This is a good number and likely this
included most of the plovers in the county, all seeking refuge in the higher
dunes which happen to be right opposite my place. The highest number I had
counted so far of plovers was 22, only half of what was there yesterday. The
spray from the waves made it impossible to seawatch, so I did not see any
seabirds flying out over the water.

>--At the height of the storm, I had birds at my feeders, primarily house
>finches, house sparrows, and juncos. Golden-crowneds were at the feeders
>very early this morning (pre sunrise).

At the feeder, the number of Golden-crowns was standard, but they fed like
the devil yesterday. The only newcomer were Pine Siskins, they had not been
around the neighbourhood for months, but the storm seems to have brought
them in from somewhere. There were Robins near the beach, which is unusual,
most I see are further up the hills.

>Hope you made it through the storm alright.

All is ok here, but that poor fence. I am interested in finding out the
direction this storm was travelling in. It seems to have hit here before it
hit tweeterland (correct?) so does that mean it came in from the south?
Otherwise it could have slammed in from the west, hitting us slightly before
it it you. I downloaded some of the weather maps just after the electricity
came back on here, but I still don't know where it came from. Did any of you
track this baby?

Finally,

What gives with Red Phalaropes? I don't really understand why they are
around here in December, why are they not gone by now? The late migration of
first winter Red Phalaropes is puzzling to me. Why do they hang back so
long, when it does seem that few actually winter in North America. Could
there be an undiscovered moulting area somewhere where the juveniles moult
into first winter plumage before moving on? In Chile, wintering Red
Phalaropes are already common in September so it is obvious that some birds
(likely the adults on timing) head down early, or perhaps the Chilean
wintering birds are actually Siberian breeders. As well, does anyone know if
first summer Red Phalaropes stay in the winter quarters during the first
Boreal summer? The differences in timing of migration between Reds and
Red-necks implies that they have different foraging needs while at sea, or
some other ecological difference while they are out there. Any suggestions?

Good post storm birding,


Alvaro Jaramillo "You are better off not knowing
Half Moon Bay, CA how sausages and laws are made"
- From fortune cookie, Vancouver
alvaro at quake.net circa 1994
http://www.quake.net/~alvaro/index.html