Subject: [Tweeters] a few birds at the ocean
Date: May 23 20:04:23 2009
From: Kelly McAllister - mcallisters4 at comcast.net


Such interesting observations, which are repeated over and over again, in different places. The tragedy of the commons, our public lands trying to do so many things and ending up doing none of them very well. It's obvious, looking at an aerial photo or satellite image, how important our public lands are for maintaining natural habitats over the long term. However, many of these same lands get loved to death and wildlife can be less diverse and abundant in a perfectly wonderful habitat that has too many people while an unimpressive piece, behind a locked gate on private land, can be rich in wildlife.

The planting of woody vegetation is something that has often bothered me but, it's true, it's a very common restoration practice, probably correctly justified by the dominant historic conditions in many riparian and wetland habitats. However, it doesn't necessarily provide for the species that need the most help.

Kelly McAllister
----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Paulson
To: Tweeters
Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 6:50 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] a few birds at the ocean


Hello, tweets.


Today Netta Smith and I saw the Red Phalarope at Midway Beach described by Charlotte Byers and also saw Gregg Thompson's photos of it. Green with envy. We were at the pond at Midway Beach at midday, and a female Red Phalarope was still there, but way across at the other side of the pond. The Red-necked Phalaropes, however, were at our feet, often passing less than 10 feet away as they swam around and fed, and we probably took 200 photos of them, absolutely impossible not to. I haven't looked at the photos yet, but I suspect there are at least a few good ones. There were at least 20-25 red-necks on the pond, scattered all along it. There was also a flock of 25 Western Sandpipers and a Semipalmated Plover on the far (western) side of the pond. But this is public property, and groups of people with kids and dogs (said without prejudice) kept coming up to the pond from both sides. One group crossed the pond from east to west and scared all the phalaropes away, not even noticing them.


We looked out at Bottle Beach in the morning, when the tide was still fairly low, and saw nary a shorebird, but I heard a Greater Yellowlegs in the distance, both calling and singing. It is so cool to hear shorebirds singing as they head north in the spring. The new state park is somewhat disconcerting to me, because there will now be a stream of recreating visitors there (we saw 5 carloads while we were there, all with either dogs or small children, that walked out to the beach and along it), far outnumbering birders and mostly not concerned with whether they scare away roosting shorebirds or not. In fact, I would predict there will be some active scaring away of shorebirds, unless all the adults practice rigorous child and pet control. I guess that's progress, and I realize there are far more nonbirders than birders, but I'm sorry that the end of that road may not be such a dependable place for shorebird roosting in the future. I suspect it will affect birders more than birds, which can just move farther away from that spot. It probably will be best to go there when high tide is early in the morning, before a lot of other people show up. I'll admit this is all speculation, but I've been watching people as long as I have birds.


I'm more disturbed by the obvious planting of tremendous numbers of trees and shrubs there, which will change it from an open area with a view out over fields and wetlands eventually to a dense patch of shrubbery or woodland that you walk through to get to the beach. The prevailing attitude in nature management, including "restoration," always seems to be to plant woody vegetation, with no thought to the value and relative rarity of the open habitats that will be lost. I would have had a consultant from the national wildlife refuge system showing the state park people how to modify the landscape to support freshwater shorebirds, which are a lot scarcer than Song Sparrows and Bewick's Wrens (again, no prejudice against these fine little birds).


We also saw a first-year Glaucous Gull at Shoalwater Bay, where one was reported yesterday, and another at Westport. A roosting flock of 30 Bonaparte's Gulls at Shoalwater Bay comprised mostly immatures; the adults are already heading for their breeding grounds. There were also about 20 immature Mew Gulls but not a single adult. There were more Brown Pelicans roosting on the breakwater at Westport than I have ever seen there, hundreds and hundreds of them lined up beak to tail, the great majority adults. But there was very little additional activity in the harbor, just a few gulls, D-c Cormorants, and guillemots. We looked out in the ocean for shearwaters wherever we were but never saw one. There was a flock of 50 or more Marbled Godwits roosting at a distance in the Tokeland Marina, but we saw no other shorebirds on the beach at Grayland or in Shoalwater Bay. Birds were generally uncommon (it is the end of the migration, after all), and I was really surprised not to see or hear a Caspian Tern. I did hear a Common Tern while we were at Midway Beach.


-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net








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