Date: 9/9/26 2:18 pm From: Barbara Kossy via groups.io <bkossy...> Subject: [pen-bird] Seen from my kayak
Yesterday afternoon (4pm) a friend and I got some great views of the Northern Gannet roosted on the center of the island breakwater in Princeton Harbor. He stood up and played around a bit with some dried vegetation, then displayed and squawked! He did that about three times. In the display he spread his wings, looked up, squawked and dipped his rear. It was nice to see him in action!
This morning (9am) my husband and I went out into waters of Half Moon bay on our double kayak, specifically to see the Common Murre creche activity. There were small groups of adult murres, perhaps the dads, and the chicks. When we stopped to listen we could hear the “Grok! Meep! "call and response of the dads and chicks. I’ve been seeing more than the occasional dead murre in the water, or on a beach. I even saw one up on land, perhaps relocated by a coyote at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. It got me wondering what happens to the chicks if the adult dies. Out on the water today I saw an adult escorting two chicks. One was much smaller than the other. Was one perhaps an orphan, that joined up with another adult and step sibling? We also saw groups of many chicks with a few adults.
The Brown Pelicans and their pesky Heermans Gull companions provided a bit more drama.
We watched pelicans dive and catch fish.(15 ft away!) The gulls were right there hoping for a score. The pelicans had a work around: reposition the fish in the gullet underwater. Then raise their head and swallow. Nothing for the gulls. The gulls seem to use a lot of energy squabbling with each other to get access to a chosen pelican.
A Common Loon flew overhead, low.
It’s so lovely to be out there and have the elegant terns, pelicans, murres and gulls all so close. There are still lots of birds, including shorebirds in the inner harbor. But really, the guano is so thick on the stone breakwaters, they look snow covered, and the smell is overpowering in the weather we’ve been having, so I’ve skipped paddling the inner harbor.
If you’ve thought about learning to kayak, give it a try. It’s a great way to see birds. Note: you cannot take kayaks rented from HMB kayaks out of the harbor, but there’s plenty to see in the harbor. I don’t even bother to bring binoculars.
