Rain day: Bird of Paradise

Bird of Paradise

Well, we are in day 2 of 3 days of fairly heavy rains. This should go quite a ways to relieve drought conditions in southern California. Otherwise we had a shower on the 31st of January. That's pretty much been it for rain so far this winter. I understand that November and March are the "rainiest" months here. We may have had some showers in November, as I recall, but not much and usually only at night.

In Portland, we'd have a couple of "snow days" in the winter. Employers would tell employees to use their best judgement about coming to work when it snowed. I've had jobs with 2-4 allowed snow days, that counted like additional paid sick days. Few cars have winter tires or traction devices and the hills are steep. So accidents in the snow are frequent. Often schools are delayed an hour or two and it all melts off by 10 a.m. Daughter Leslie sent me pics of 10 inches of snow in Portland this winter. Some years no snow sticks on the ground.

Guess what? There's a local version here! It's a "rain day"! Not only are there many automobile accidents when it rains here--especially the first fall rains--but landscapers generally do not work in the rain!

I envision those landscapers in Oregon all dressed in their dark green rain slickers, blowing and raking piles of grass and autumn leaves as it drizzles away.... And then I think of landscapers in southern California when it rains--hitting the beach to surf the higher waves in their wetsuits!

Ruddy Duck

Ruddy Duck. Lindo Lake, California. February 9, 2014. Greg Gillson.

I thought this sleeping Ruddy Duck was photogenic, even if it's not the typical field guide pose. In a few months this drake will molt to a rusty red with white cheek and blue bill. The long tail is typical of 6 species of "stiff-tailed ducks" worldwide.

Common Gallinule

Common Gallinule. Lindo Lake, California. February 9, 2014. Greg Gillson.

Gallinules are anatomically similar to coots, rails, and cranes. While they float around on ponds like ducks, there are many differences. That pointed stout bill is not like the flat spatulate bill of a duck.

Another major difference is that gallinules do not have webbed feet like ducks, geese, and swans.

Gallinules are resident birds of southern states (migrating to the East Coast in summer, and also south into South America). In most of North America the similar, but less colorfully-billed, American Coot is quite abundant. If you are familiar with coots, the gallinules tend to be more shy and hide closer to shore among the reeds. The Common Gallinules at Lindo Lake this day, however, were pretty bold, swimming out from protection and even begging food with the tame ducks!

American Coot. Lindo Lake, California. February 9, 2014. Greg Gillson.

San Diego Year Bird #165: American White Pelican

American White Pelican. Lindo Lake, California. February 9, 2014. Greg Gillson.

A funny old bird is a pelican.

His beak can hold more than his bellican.

Food for a week

He can hold in his beak,

But I don't know how the hellican.

This limerick is often attributed to Ogden Nash. But evidently it is by Dixon Lanier Merritt (1879-1972).

And, yes, the beak can hold more than it's belly can--the throat pouch can hold 3 gallons!

Great-tailed Grackle

Great-tailed Grackle. Lindo Lake, California. February 9, 2014. Greg Gillson.

Marlene and I lived for 4 years in Ventura, California 30 years ago. One of the typical birds seen near ponds and river bottoms was Tricolored Blackbird. It's like a Red-winged Blackbird in appearance but with a white, rather than yellow, border below the red. The voice is unmusical. Tricolored Blackbirds are also more colonial, living in dense flocks all year, whereas Red-winged Blackbirds break up into pairs for the breeding season.

I saw a few Tricolored Blackbirds at Lindo Lake when I visited two weeks ago. But in many areas where they used to be common in southern California, they are now gone. The reason? Apparently Great-tailed Grackles out-compete them.

Noisy and brash, Great-tailed Grackles were primarily found in Mexico and Central America with populations in the US only in Texas and an outlying population in Arizona up to the 1960's. Due to agricultural irrigation, starting in the 1970's, the population of these large grackles expanded. Today they reach from Louisiana to California and are regular vagrants from Minnesota to Oregon.