The baby herons are fledged out early in June. They are high in the two aleppo pine trees adjacent to the boat ramp, and are difficult to see well enough to determine anything useful about them. They still make their remarkable cacophony of cackling and gargling noises.

They are equally as difficult to photograph.

Into the first week of June, Beaky paddles around the docks, occasionally making the coot recognition squawk as if he has seen someone familiar. But nobody is there. He crows a few times, usually in response to a loud noise like a helicopter overhead.

After the first week of June, he becomes depressed and lethargic, eating very little. He just sits in the water, or stands on the boat, staring at nothing. He threatens to peck the mallard that comes to steal his food, but doesn't eat much himself.

Beaky is able to climb up onto the finger dock with the help of two small boat fenders rafted together to make a step.

This enables him to find food and water left there when the boat is gone during the day. A battery powered automatic pet feeder in the dock steps can dispense food when the boat is gone for a few days in the summer.

He spends more time on the dock in the last week of June. He probably considers it a form of adventure, being able to look around up there.

Only a few swallows appear at the marina this summer. The tiny flies that they eat finally arrive in correspondingly small numbers during the last week in June. There are fewer flies and fewer birds spread out over a large area of the sky.

The picture below shows the swallows chasing flies in the sky above the marina. In the last few days of June, warm weather returns to attract more flies and swallows. Probably about two dozen swallows perform aerobatics to capture flies.

The baby gulls appear in June at Harbor Island. As usual, there are three chicks. According to Kevin, if more than three eggs are produced, the excess are discarded. If necessary, any fallen chicks can be picked up, and put back up on the roof until they can fly.

Coots don't do steps. In their own construction, they build ramps to get up and down. Coots do use the stairs (thoughtlessly provided for their use) for climbing up, but Beaky never would go down. Monday, and some of the more clever coots would also go down the steps, but never Beaky.

Only recently, Beaky has begun to use the steps to climb down as well as up onto the boat. This newly discovered convenience is easier than jumping in the water and paddling around again.

The osprey nest by the boatyard on G street appears to be busy as indicated by the noise the birds are making. As usual, it's impossible to know exactly what is happening with no way to see into the nest.

After a long recession, many governments are struggling to make their payroll since people who are not working and spending money don't pay much in taxes. But the Port of San Diego calls on contractors to help spend their money on projects of questionable value to the public.

An example of the new park benches in use is shown below.

The Cull

DEFRA Response to Issue of Corvid Cull License

Corvid research project

"Thank you for your e-mail of 1 May to the Secretary of State highlighting your concerns regarding the licence granted by Natural England to the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) for its corvid research project. I have been asked to reply and apologise for the delay in doing so.

We have recently been informed by Natural England that it granted a licence on 25 March 2011 to the GWCT to allow it to carry out research to study the impacts of corvid control. This licence is granted only for “scientific, research or educational purposes” and for a limited number of birds. You can find details of this licence including the permitted activities and methods as well as the number and species of birds concerned on Natural England’s website:

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/freedom_of_information/disclosurelog.aspx

Natural England is the licensing authority for species licensing under Part 1 (excluding section 14) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. In our previous email of 25 February we outlined how licences can be granted under section 16 of the 1981 Act for very specific reasons. In considering applications for such licences Natural England conducts a strict series of tests and makes a number of considerations in accordance with the Defra policy statement (see Annex A attached). We have no reason to believe, in relation to the licence granted to the GWCT, that this policy was not followed.

Defra officials met representatives of Songbird Survival, the organisation that commissioned the GWCT research, at the end of May to discuss this and broader policy issues. Defra has offered no formal endorsement of the GWCT project but has requested sight of any findings of the research. Our policy, in relation to the known causes and subsequent responses to the decline in songbird populations, remains unchanged and was outlined in our previous reply.

Yours sincerely,

Kevin Woodhouse

Defra - Customer Contact Unit"

Springwatch investigates: The corvid cull www.bbc.co.uk:"Martin has been out mystery-busting, exploring the arguments for and against the corvid cull: plans to cull crows and magpies to test if they are contributing to a decline in songbird numbers."

Derbyshire gamekeeper guilty of trapping birds of prey www.bbc.co.uk:"A gamekeeper working on National Trust land has been found guilty of illegally trapping birds of prey in the Peak District."

Gamekeeper guilty of trapping birds www.scotsman.com/:"A gamekeeper working on National Trust land in Derbyshire has been found guilty of attempting to trap and kill birds of prey illegally."

News

World's oceans in 'shocking' decline www.bbc.co.uk:"The oceans are in a worse state than previously suspected, according to an expert panel of scientists."

They conclude that issues such as over-fishing, pollution and climate change are acting together in ways that have not previously been recognised.

Wind power turbines in Altamont Pass threaten protected birds www.latimes.com:"Scores of golden eagles have been killed after striking the thousands of wind turbines in the Bay Area, raising questions about California's move toward alternative power."

Magpies recognise and 'scold' individual humans www.bbc.co.uk:More stuff you already knew. . .

Charismatic megafauna off La Jolla Deep-Sea News:"A somewhat incompetent osprey has been hanging out on the Scripps pier."

WATCH: Crafty crow targets Westfield golfers

Bumblebees

The United States Code the official, subject matter order, compilation of the Federal laws of a general and permanent nature that are currently in force.

Reuters: Iran Plans to Send Monkey into Space

The Sacramento Bee: "It makes no sense to be both restoring and destroying a river all at the same time – and at taxpayer expense,"

The Seattle Times: "Odd visitors in local waters a deep mystery" - - strange animal sightings in and around Pacific Northwest waters

ABC Action News: "Giant Squid Found Floating off Florida East Coast"

NOAA : (Only the most recent of many embarrassing articles linked here)

SouthCoastToday: "NEW BEDFORD — NOAA, the federal agency under fire for overzealous enforcement of fishery regulations, is facing more criticism this week.

Gloucester Times: "Barely a month after the Ciulla family was issued a public apology and paid reparations for a decade of relentless federal fisheries enforcement harassment at their fish auction that uncovered "no credible evidence," NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco has now ordered the business to close for 15 days."

USA News Monitor: "Federal officials said on Monday that fishing regulators have decided to change the way they enforce laws and how they spend the collected fines. Officials added that it was done after it was found in a special investigation that fishermen living in the northeastern parts of the country were made to pay huge fines for minor mistakes. The probe also found that the fine money was used to buy items like international trips and a luxury boat.."

Asbury Park Press: "Fishing Column: NOAA announces bluefin tuna not endangered.."

OutTakes

(Use your mouse cursor to read the titles)

Quote

"Keyaw took out a jawbone sickle and began to strike away at the 
branches that had once been the shoulders of my world.  From different
perches, my father called out.  Not angry, not grieving, he was more than
that, or less.  His wits had flown completely away.  "fly here," he called.
". . . here . . ." then ". . . there . . ."  It unnerved me when he landed beside me.
I found myself crying out as he did, the woe grinding away, making a bruise
of my heart where the hot blood spilled out.  Plum Black flew near and told 
me to follow.  We flew off to a safe distance, where she arranged the feathers
searing my face and told me to be brave, that soon I would have to find my 
own way."

Layne Maheu: Song of the Crow

Index: Home Background Coot Food Recipe for Coot Pudding Coot Misinformation Bibliography of Research Coot Calls and Movies Historical Summary Links to Important Sites Opinion

Maritime Security Level