mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) (01/17/89)
Well, it seems that the winter tides, especially the solstice tides, have been pretty wimpy this year in the San Francisco Bay area. Although the listed heights in the tide table have been on par with previous years, the actual tides just haven't measured up. As a result, sightings of Black Rail in the Baylands have almost been nonexistant. I know of only two people who claim to have gotten a "glimpse" of a Black Rail on one of the tides. I haven't seen one of these rails in a year and now it looks like I'll have to wait another year before getting another chance. However, I was able to scare up a Sharp-Tailed Sparrow on one of the tides. I had a long dry spell of vagrant chasing where I was missing everything in sight. It seemed that I might never get another vagrant again, until a couple of weeks ago. I chased after a King Eider that was reported at Moss Landing and, after missing it the first two times (Oh no! not again), I managed to find it on my third trip. Then I got a White Wagtail along Elkhorn Slough. Finally, last Saturday I chased and found a Worm-Eating Warbler in the town of Pescadero. It looks like I'm back in the vagrant business. Mike
jla@inuxd.UUCP (Joyce Andrews) (01/18/89)
> > Well, it seems that the winter tides, especially the solstice > tides, have been pretty wimpy this year in the San Francisco Bay area. > Although the listed heights in the tide table have been on par with > previous years, the actual tides just haven't measured up. As a result, That's really interesting. Here on the SE coast, the tides have been higher than usual. Are we getting all your water? (:-) We've had a rather different year at the Wild Bird Center, too. We have never had herring gulls...this year we've had a dozen. We've splinted our first sandwich tern. Turkey vultures, loons, and mergansers have simply fallen out of the sky. Perhaps they are suffering from lack of food up north that's made them too weak to complete migration? On the other hand, our breeding colonies are well ahead of time, producing a crop of babies we usually see in March. WE are currently raising baby roseate spoonbills (only the CUTEST baby birds in the WORLD) and baby herons (OK, immatures, but they are babies to me). Broad-wing hawks are showing up emaciated. So are other migratory raptors. Do you think it's last year's drought? -- Joyce Andrews King att!inuxd!jla AT&T, Indianapolis (This message brought to you from the Florida Keys via the miracle of modern communications.)