Dining Arrangements

Monday, the new female, can fly like a bird and go anywhere she wants. Since Beaky Coot always jealously protects his food and water dishes on the dock, I placed similar containers on the boat's swim step. She could easily hop up there to eat and drink without Beaky bothering her.

After a few days, Beaky noticed the other eating facilities and became curious about it.

He found that he could easily climb up the coot steps, and squeeze under the bottom rail. This may be safer than trying to hop up on the dock since the coot steps are attached to the boat.

Even after I added another step to the top of the coot steps, Beaky still had difficulty making the last step onto the dock.

In fact, this turns out to be much easier for him, in his advanced old age.

So, now I feed both coots on the boat's swim step. It gives them easier access and they are actually more secure because they are out of sight from the dock.

The Crows

The terrified ducks are gone from the parking lot, but the American Crows are still able to find a few berries growing on the remaining vegetation. They also forage for food in the palm trees.

The crows forage for some kind of food on the parts of the palm trees where they had been pruned last summer.

There is always plenty of fresh irrigation water here to drink, but the threat of mosquitoes is probably reduced with the cooler night temperatures.

All over the city, crows know that Christmas is coming.

Grebes

Small Eared grebes appear during November, and this one had remarkable glowing eyes.

I found a partially eaten carcass of a grebe in the water, but I was unable to tell what kind of grebe it was. It may have been the lonely Pied-billed grebe which is now missing.

Small flocks of these tiny grebes appear by the middle of the month. There were two of these groups each containing two mated pairs.

New Coots

Small flocks of coots arrive in November, but none in the large numbers that were expected. In all there may be thirty or forty coots here. Considering bird counts from the past three years, about two hundred coots were expected.

One of these small flocks of a dozen coots joins the thirty surviving mallards at Chula Vista Bayside Park.

By the end of November their numbers have increased to about 25.

The wild coots can make a meager living by eating the grass.

As usual, the birds have plenty of fresh water from standing puddles in the park nearby.

Stupid Marvin

The ugly, stupid, and kleptoparisitic coot returned on November 22. This will mark his fifth year here at the marina. As usual, he recognizes me and looks at me with his ugly assymetrical face, but won't take food from my hand. He is uncertain about what to do with food when he has it, and makes stupid yip-yap squawks.

He is the only one of the six winter residents to return this year.

Marvin quickly gets back to work by attacking the other coots to take their food. He chases them around with his stupid "yip-yip" call.

His personality is the same, but his activity is somewhat more reserved this winter. Generally, a coot's attitude will "mellow" with age as he becomes more calm and relaxed. A coot is much more entertaining on his first year, as he seems to want to try out every call and display, and is full of life.

The Worms

The super worms that are available for bird food now cannot be refrigerated, and the cool fall weather caused problems keeping them on the boat. A few would die off each day.

I found that the worms do best kept at home in a warm kitchen. I give them a few slices of raw potato and a handful of wheat bran every day.

To keep the worms clean, I strain them daily through a kitchen strainer, and pick out remnants of uneaten potatoes from the previous day.

The Gulls

Empty mussel shells are scattered around the ends of the finger docks. There is an unlimited supply of mussels growing on the concrete pilings, and the seagulls can easily remove them and open them on the concrete dock.

The Fish

In early mornings well before sunrise, there are fish swimming around the marina. Most coots don't seem to fear them terribly, but Beaky is still nervous about coming up to eat. If one of the coots happens to drop a Cheez-it in the water while breaking it up to eat it, a fish will often strike at it. While floating on the water a Cheez-it may hop around a bit, but most often, simply disappears in the black water.

Danger

This small, young female shows the coot "danger" display. She displays her white tail coverts with her head upright (and runs away).

Habitat Loss

The same young female eats some of the vegetation that remains around the edge of the bay at the south side of the marina. It is remarkable how this vine can survive and thrive after being soaked in salt water at high tide. This small patch of plants will certainly have been removed by the end of the month.

Sandpiper

This solitary sandpiper has been here for about three years. The sandpiper comes to eat crumbs from the coots' food every day, but is extremely nervous and shy. Until now, the bird has defied photography since it is the size of a mouse and quick as a spider.

Cackle

The female coot's form of crowing is a rapid ratcheting, buzzing, cackle. Monday is always ready to take up the cudgels when intruders threaten her and Beaky's territory. Especially if Beaky is nearby. . .

Clarks Grebe

The beautiful but half-blind Clarks grebe is seen occasionally, and is here on November 30.

Big Picture:

Rings in the water's surface show the pressure wave resulting from Monday Coot making one "cluck" call. This may remind you of how a water table is used to simulate supersonic flow for airfoil testing.

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