| Thursday, July 1, 2010 | |
Volume 9 Issue 7 |
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On June 16 this male surf scoter was seen in the marina. This bird is almost three months late for spring migration and would frequently stretch upward as shown at right and and shake itself. The bird seems to have swallowed or become entangled in something and was unable to free itself. The surf scoter paddled around erratically until clearing the end of the dock. Feeling a fresh breeze off the bay, he was probably thinking of flying back home and attempted to take off. Several times. He slowly wandered out into the open bay and disappeared. |
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Most of the blackbirds return in the third week of June with their fledged chicks. There are only a few of them this summer. The birds shown here are eating rolled oats. They also eat the pudding and a few of them enjoy eating the worms. These pictures seem to show female adults feeding the fledglings. Last year, only the male parents were feeding the juvenile blackbirds. |
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The friendly male blackbird with the terminal food disease and his crippled mate (shown below) continue to come to visit every day. However, there is no indication that they have been able to produce any offspring this year. |
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By the end of June, the female blackbird is on the last leg of her journey.
Life is very quiet and slow in the summer when all the other coots and migratory birds are gone. However, gulls and ducks are still here and will try to steal Beaky's food. Beaky does his best to make himself look big and threatening, but the gull ignores him. In fact, the female mallard has attacked Beaky to get his food. Beaky really has no (bird) friends this time of year.
For several weeks, Beaky has been calmly punctual for feeding every morning, and stays nearby. In the last few days of June, he becomes shy and wary, and prefers to stay on the steps near the water to grab a few oats. Then he quickly moves away to hide behind one of the nearby boats. Perhaps the July molt (that makes the coots nervous as they lose their wing feathers) is coming early this summer.
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Beaky was seen sitting on the boat's swim step, and staring at the transom. A closer look (below) revealed that he had cornered a dead sardine that had been left in the scuppers from the previous day's fishing trip. Coots eat tiny fish whenever they can catch one. This is a whopper, and is not going to get away. |
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After having been missing from southern California for some time, live anchovies are once again available at the bait barge.
On the last few days of June, Beaky is thinking of his nest. He seems uncertain on this year's location. He finds a duck sitting on his nesting spot of two years ago. He paddles around the yacht basin, crowing to fend off other territorial coots. But his mate has been gone for many years, and his mind wanders to other things.
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This weak and emaciated looking fish struggled in the marina at the surface of the water. It appeared to be a small Lingcod Ophiodon elongatus. It's unusual to see a pelagic fish like this twenty miles up inside a shallow bay. |
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Since the parking lots and streets are flooded with water several times a week, there is always a bit of standing water that breeds mosquitoes. The mosquitoes were noticeable in the parking lot last summer. The following link describes how West Nile Virus is prevented by the county Department of Environmental Health. Deadly Mosquitoes Breed in Our Urban Drool The San Diego Reader Jan. 21, 2009 |
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These annoying signs appeared along Marina Parkway on election day alongside the polling place signs. Proposition G passed easily, and most feel that it will hinder city redevelopment projects that would bring demolition of the two marinas here with loss of 900 boat slips, and removal of the power plant that protected the last tiny bit of natural wetlands habitat here. Passing Prop. G seems to be a victory for boat owners and wildlife in San Diego. |
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The city has been trying to get rid of the marinas, the power plant, and associated businesses in south bay for the past "three decades." They consider this to be a "blighted" part of the city. New redevelopment projects bring in cash for the mayors in the form of campaign contributions. In return, developers may get contracts, illegal construction permits, or tax breaks.
The following quote taken from KPBS San Diego Week considers the impact of Prop. G on South Bay Redevelopment:
"ST JOHN: Well the people who are against Proposition G – which is the labor movement and the labor council – are saying it could have a devastating affect on that. And right as the City is on the verge of manifesting this dream it’s had for three decades that perhaps if Proposition G passed they would not be able to proceed with state and federal funding for it."
This transcript from KPBS San Diego Week describes Chula Vista’s "Red Hot Election Ballot".
Graft with the San Diego city council and their labor union (that created the huge pension debacle) has left voters with a bad attitude. Stand by for more of the same in the November ballot!
There was hope that a new mayor might help to clean up code enforcement violations at the marina, but mayor Cox was reelected. Is Chula Vista Code Enforcement corrupt?
Other government agencies such as Cal OSHA, Cal EPA, San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, California Department of Fish & Game, and US Fish and Wildlife Service, all will (and have) accepted anonymous or confidential complaints. They are all interested in enforcement, not retaliation.
However, if you attempt to call the Chula Vista Code Enforcement telephone numbers, you will only get a series of recordings and nobody will answer questions. The Chula Vista Code Enforcement Inquiry Form states: "No anonymous requests will be investigated".
It looks like Ron McElliott was wrong. The Port of San Diego and surrounding city governments have worked hard to discourage the boating community, even to the illegal eviction of boaters from the federal anchorage in South Bay a few years ago. It really gives you a weird feeling to see the bay with everything gone. It is just as difficult for boaters to patronize bayside businesses as it is for the ducklings to climb out of the bay over the rocks on the riprap.
On the other hand, the mayor has also been unsuccessful in bringing in the big developers who would construct the high dollar tourist attractions like hotels, casinos, and sports stadiums to replace the marinas.
Maybe there's a difference of opinion on what a "thriving waterfront" is, but what the city has created now sure aint it.
It was clear from the outset, that the Gulf oil spill was more than the country's worst oil spill, it is an ongoing disaster approaching global proportions. This planet is already in the middle of an extinction cycle of the same scale as the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event 65 million years ago.
The Cretaceous-Tertiary event was thought to have been caused by an asterioid impact. The British Petroleum oil spill is similar to the asteroid impact. Accordingly, the current extinction cycle should be named the "British Petroleum Extinction Event".
The technical information gleaned from the press clearly indicated that the equipment being used by British Petroleum had not considered safety, reliability, or any way to recover from a catastrophic failure. There should be some sort of penalty to prevent this from happening in the future. Corporate managers like Tony Hayward get paid a lot of money to do things like stand in front of the US Congress and act like fools. There needs to be some way to make these people individually responsible for their behavior, instead of just being paid a lot of money.
As oil spews in Gulf, BP chief at UK yacht race LONDON – BP chief executive Tony Hayward, often criticized for being tone-deaf to U.S. concerns about the worst oil spill in American history, took time off Saturday to attend a glitzy yacht race off England's Isle of Wight.
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According to marina policy, marina employees are not allowed to "socialize" with tenants. How does this work? One of the first rules of running a successful double standard management system is to never put anything in writing. Especially never post it in plain sight of the general public. |
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Painting a trash can a different color and putting up a sign doesn't relieve the marina of its obligation to pick up trash on the docks. This is more than stupid, it's just mean-spirited. To deny a few dollars from the few tenants who collect cans and bottles for recycling can't possible benefit the marina. It's just another case of Dog in the Manger thinking. |
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U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent Lisa Nichols gave the marina a warning of a $250,000 fine. This would calculate out to fifty ducks killed in 2008. Many more hens and ducklings were taken in spring of 2009. Agent Nichols stated that the marina contends that the ducks are not "wild birds" protected by US Code Title 16. Agent Nichols said that she has seen the ducks and insists that they are protected by federal law. Unfortunately the problem remains that the ducks are actually gone, and there is no physical evidence of what they were or where they went. Once again, anyone who saw anything is asked to call Agent Nichols at (619) 557-5063 or (24 hours) (619) 954-5498. The marina continues to ensure that any ducklings that hatch in the marina don't survive. Removal of the iceplant from the riprap over the past two years makes it impossible for any small animals to climb out of the bay. The yacht basin is a death trap since ducklings that can't make it up over the rocks onto the lawn (to find fresh water) die from dehydration in a day or two. Also, paying children to collect duck eggs violates federal law.
Keep in mind that both federal and state permits are required to possess wild birds, and the marina does not have any such permits. Only a nonprofit corporation may apply for permits, and can prevent any other corporation from submitting an application. Once an agency like Project Wildlife has permits, it is not obligated to do anything. The most common complaint about Project Wildlife is that they refuse to come out and take possession of a wild bird. If you capture, hold, or transport a wild bird for any reason, you are in violation of both state and federal law.
Caring for live animals is an expense and inconvenience for a nonprofit agency, and they must make more money than they spend to remain in business. There's no reason to think that an injured animal taken to a licensed agency will be examined or treated in a timely or reasonable manner.
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Here is a movie showing the brewers blackbird feeding her juvenile babies. Click on this link to see feedingbabies.wmv, (12 seconds long, 3.9 Megabytes) This time of year at the end of June the blackbirds bring their new fledglings to the boat to show them how to eat rolled oats. |
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(I don't make this stuff up department)
Beaky The Coot's Links file has been Updated in June, 2010 to include recent additions dating back a few years.
The Marina Del Rey Conservancy is back again. Sign up and log on for the latest news.
The Centre for Invasive Biology (CIB) and GISP Protected areas, long thought of as safe refuges for animals and plants, are under increasing threats from invasive species which not only affect biodiversity but also people’s livelihoods.
BP burning sea turtles alive? VENICE, La. - A boat captain working to rescue sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico says he has seen BP ships burning sea turtles and other wildlife alive.
ACT AGAINST CORVID TRAPS Exposing the vile underbelly of pseudo-conservationists
Tamarisk Eradication Halted to Protect Endangered Bird Removal of invasive plant accelerates extinction of endangered bird.
Batavia Man Fined Nearly $25K For Poisoning Birds Farmer Admits To Illegally Using Pesticide
CODE ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES FOR SAN DIEGO COUNTY AND SURROUNDING AREAS
Chula Vista Mayor Cox, Prop. G win SIGNON SAN DIEGO NEWS
Thames wildlife near Hampton Court A charming story about life on a houseboat on the river Thames near London
PROJECT LABOR AGREEMENTS PLA Final Rule Takes Effect Today: Let the Waste, Cronyism and Discrimination Begin
Attorney Jailed Denied Rights for Exposing Judicial Corruption, Richard Fine America's broken courts
Handheld Radio Aids CG Rescue Man The Coast Guard encourages all mariners to maintain a properly working VHF-radio
Silence in the Lagoons Gray whales starve off from global warming.
City Park Birds Dying From Avian Botulism Birds at City Park are dying from avian botulism.
Wayward otters cause coastal havoc More sea otter sushi...
Oceana demands more marine protection areas. ENVIRONMENTAL group Oceana is calling for an increase in marine protected areas worldwide to avoid the collapse of fishery resources that some scientific studies are foreseeing for the middle of this century.
National Fisherman commercial fishing news You can read how bad it is for yourself, I'm getting tired of it.
COOT RECIPES from US Fish and Wildlife Service August 19, 1944 This is the only link that Google lists ahead of beakycoot.com on a search for "american coot recipes"
Big Picture:
Click on the image to view it full size. Use your browser's Back button to return. A beautiful young female brewers blackbird who appears untouched by the terminal foot disease. . . |
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(Use your mouse cursor to read the titles)
"The twenty-first century may mark the evolutionary dead end of large vertibrates. As we have seen, much of the devastation that humans have wrought over the past forty thousand years has been unusually focused on big animals. The survivors of this onslaught now hang on in confined, de- graded habitats, with small, isolated populations that maintain only a mea- ger portion of their once enriched gene variation. We may have already deprived them of the genetic potentials for evolutionary change and adjust- ment they accumulated over millions of years. Despite recent conservation efforts, even some of the largest protected areas might be too small to pro- vide a matrix for such evolutionary change. "
Michael Novacek: Terra, Our 100-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem-and the Threats that Now Put it at Risk
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Index: |
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Maritime Security Level |
Marina Stress Factor
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