Pete Thomas Outdoors

Bald eagle and nesting chicks on Santa Cruz Island react to magnitude 5.3 earthquake; video

By Pete Thomas

People aren’t the only creatures whose nerves are rattled when an earthquake occurs. 

The accompanying footage, captured Thursday as a 5.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the Channel Islands off Southern California, shows a bald eagle dad briefly abandoning his three chicks, who are left to nervously ponder what might be happening.

The nest is located on Santa Cruz Island, just north of the epicenter of an earthquake that struck beneath the sea floor just before 12:30 p.m. The eagles are monitored by Explore.org via live video feed.

The earthquake was felt by residents on the mainland dozens of miles away. No damage had been reported at the time of this post.

Viewers of the video can see concern on the eagle dad’s face as the nest begins to shake. He lifts off and the chicks are revealed. Moments later, a shadow appears and dad returns to check on his babies, and all seems fine.

Mom's whereabouts during the earthquake are not known.

Wisdom, world's oldest albatross, is a mom-to-be once more

Wisdom, who is at least 63, incubates her egg on Midway Atoll; photo by Greg Joder

By Pete Thomas/GrindTv

Midway Atoll, in the middle of the Pacific, is extremely remote but steeped in history.

It was the last link in a worldwide telegraph system that was launched with a message from President Theodore Roosevelt on July 4, 1903.

Midway was a landing site for Pan Am Clipper ships that ferried people across the Pacific. As a Naval Air Facility, it once supported more than 5,000 residents and, of course, the small coral atoll served as headquarters for the famous 1942 Battle of Midway, which turned the tide in the war against Japan.

But these days, with a staff of about 40, Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is mostly associated with its remarkable wildlife, mainly its nesting sea birds, including the world’s oldest-known banded wild bird: a Laysan albatross named Wisdom.

Wisdom preens mate; photo by Greg Joder

Wisdom, who is at least 63 years old and possibly much older, has astonished biologists yet again by returning to the atoll and laying yet another egg.

It’s remarkable given that the average life span for a Laysan albatross is 12 to 40 years. These graceful soaring birds spend most of their time at sea and face many perils, including the ingestion of plastic they mistake for prey.

But Wisdom clearly is not a typical Laysan albatross. Every year it’s a surprise merely that she has returned, and perhaps the same can be said of her younger mate (Laysan albatrosses mate for life).

This year Wisdom’s mate arrived on Midway on November 19; Wisdom was first spotted on November 22. The laying of an egg was reported Wednesday in a blog post by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Pacific Region.

It states that Wisdom has raised between 30 and 35 chicks since being banded in 1956, when she was estimated to be 5 years old.

This marks the eighth consecutive year that Wisdom and her mate have successfully bred. Soon, it’s hoped, a chick will hatch, officially making Wisdom a new mom–again.

Not that any of the other albatross will notice, however. Midway boasts 70% of the world’s breeding Laysan albatrosses. The two islands that comprise the atoll are littered with birds during the fall-winter mating and incubating season.

Wisdom's chick from last year; photo by Dan Clark/USFWS

Hatching season typically begins in mid-January, and fledging occurs from mid-June through July. That’s also when the parents leave the nest, to spend the next several months foraging at sea.

Sounds like a lot to go through for an older bird such as Wisdom, but then what does a bird know about age?

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Humpback whale photographed with pelican in its mouth

By Pete Thomas/GrindTv

It’s an interesting dynamic when humpback whales begin to lunge feed on anchovies they’ve herded close to the surface, because as they’re charging upward, with their massive mouths agape, gulls and pelicans are diving on the same bait fish.

Sometimes, for the much smaller birds, a teachable moment occurs: They’ve either mistimed their dives or failed to get out of the way while resting on the water.

Rarely, however, is this event captured so perfectly by a photographer.

The accompanying image was captured over the weekend by Kate Cummings, who runs Blue Ocean Whale Watch in Monterey, California. It shows the moment a feeding pelican became stuck in the jaws of a feeding humpback, with only its head and right wing protruding from the cetacean’s mouth.

Also visible is baleen, which whales use to sift small fish from sea water. The baleen would have prevented the pelican from actually being swallowed.

Cummings stated on Facebook: “Find the unhappy pelican! (who was happy again a few moments later when the humpback whale let it go).”

There were seven humpbacks feeding in a small area at the time. “We clearly saw the pelican get gobbled up, but then quickly released before the humpback submerged," Cummings said. "The pelican looked perfectly fine–no evidence of wing damage or anything.”

We’ve circled the bird in red for added effect (top image) and perused some of dozens of comments Cummings’ post received.

Perhaps the best was from Efren Bauer Adalem, who wrote: "Great capture. Let this be a warning to those kayakers and paddleboarders who get too close. Accidents can happen!”

–Note: Photos are courtesy of ©Kate Cummings and are protected by copyright laws

For California brown pelicans, another major blow; breeding season described as 'a bust'

Just when it seemed as though the California brown pelican population was flourishing, having rebounded from near-extinction over the past century, the iconic birds have suffered another significant setback.

The University of California at Davis has released findings of a survey that reveal a sharp decline in the number of breeding pairs in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California.

About 90% of California brown pelicans breed and raise their chicks in the gulf. Biologists visit sites that typically hold tens of thousands of nesting birds.

But this year many those sites were alarmingly deserted, in some cases totally deserted.

“That’s what we call a failure, a bust. The bottom dropped out,” Dan Anderson, a UC Davis biologist who was part of a survey team that also involved a Mexican ecological group, told ABC News.

California brown pelicans can often be seen soaring up and down the California coast, and their abundance during the past few years seemed to indicate a burgeoning population.

But if a new year class is substantially diminished, as it seems to be, far fewer pelicans might be seen in the next few years.

It’s possible that the crash could be linked to a developing El Niño in the equatorial mid-Pacific.

Water temperatures are warmer than normal in the Sea of Cortez and bait populations have shifted, affecting the pelicans’ ability to find food.

However, there could be more to this problem than a developing El Niño.

"During most El Niño events we've seen, numbers of nesting attempts drop by at least half to two-thirds, and production goes down, too," Anderson said, in a UC Davis statement. "But it drops from thousands to hundreds, not to 10 or less."

California brown pelicans, in recent decades, began a remarkable comeback after nearly being wiped out because of DDT pesticide poisoning.

They were declared an endangered species in 1970, and removed from the list in 2009, when their population was estimated to number 150,000.

The large birds, which feed by plunging into the water and catching fish with their large beaks, are found as far north as Washington.

–Pete Thomas

–Photo: Two California brown pelicans rest atop a rock earlier this month beyond Cabo San Lucas at Land's End. Credit: ©Pete Thomas

Moonbird the red knot arrives at Delaware Bay yet again; researchers are amazed

Researchers were astonished this week to discover that Moonbird had returned to Delaware Bay, once again, to gorge on the eggs of horseshoe crabs before resuming his northbound journey.

Moonbird is a red knot and looks like the other shorebirds of the same name, except for the orange band around his leg, which bears the male bird’s other name, B95.

B95 was banded at Delaware Bay, on the Northeast seaboard, in 1995. He was believed to have been at least 2 years old at the time.

He’s the oldest-known member of a species that annually migrates nearly 20,000 miles, round-trip, from Arctic breeding grounds to and from the tip of South America.

It’s one of the longest migrations of any bird species, so imagine the frequent-flier miles logged by B95, who has made this perilous journey, negotiating ferocious storms and headwinds, for at least 21 years.

Researchers figure that B95 has flown a distance equivalent to flying to the moon and halfway back. Hence the name, Moonbird, a four-ounce marvel who is famous in the global birding community.

Moonbird represents a dream sighting, and Delaware Bay, where red knots converge by the thousands for about two weeks to refuel and fatten up on horseshoe crab eggs, is the most likely spot from which to spot Moonbird.

But each time Moonbird is spotted, researchers wonder whether it will be the last. How can a small bird that has endured so many marathon migrations, they wonder, possess the strength and stamina for another?

So on Sunday morning at Reeds Beach in New Jersey, when researcher Patricia Gonzalez saw through her spotting scope a red knot bearing an orange tag with a faded B95 imprint, she was beside herself.

“It’s incredible… a miracle,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Birders were in force, and included the Nature Conservancy’s Phillip Hoose, who in 2012 wrote a book titled, Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95.

Hoose, upon hearing of Moonbird’s presence, hurried to the area only to find that B95 had moved on. “Jilted again,” he quipped.

Charles Duncan, a Maine conservationist and seasonal visitor to Delaware Bay, was also present. He told the Inquirer: “None of us ever believed that B95 would live to be 21 years old and just keep going as strong as ever. But here we are. And now I think none of us would dare bet–25, 30? Who knows?”

Red knots, like other shorebirds, have declined over the years, in part due to the over harvesting of horseshoe crabs at Delaware Bay, which is a critical staging area.

According to the Inquirer, the Delaware Bay population dropped from 100,000 birds decades ago, to only 12,000 in 2003.

But this has been a prolific spring for the horseshoe crab spawn, and red knots have fattened up and look healthy.

That bodes well for the breeding season in the Arctic tundra. It might also bode well for Moonbird, who will need all the strength he can muster for another journey to South America.

–Pete Thomas, via GrindTv Outdoor

Congrats to Wisdom the albatross! World's oldest known wild bird is rearing another chick

The world’s oldest known wild bird continues to astonish researchers at the remote Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.

That's in part because of her longevity—the Laysan albatross is at least 63 years old, and probably much older—but mostly because the albatross is still rearing babies.

Her recently hatched chick was first spotted this week by the refuge’s visitor services manager, Ann Bell. Wisdom was dutifully doting for the furry brown baby, keeping it warm and safe.

It’s remarkable considering that Wisdom, who spends the non-nesting season foraging over a vast parcel of the Pacific, was first banded as an adult in 1956.

“As the world’s oldest known bird in the wild, Wisdom is an iconic symbol of inspiration and hope for all seabird species,” Dan Clark, refuge manager, stated in a news release. “She provides to the world valuable information about the longevity of these beautiful creatures.

"In the case of Wisdom, she has logged literally millions of miles over the Pacific Ocean in her lifetime to find enough fish eggs and squid to feed herself and multiple chicks, allowing us to measure the health of our oceans which sustain albatross as well as ourselves.”

To be sure, Wisdom is a wise old albatross. She has survived year after year despite a horrible ocean pollution problem that has killed thousands of the sea birds, young and old.

The adults will ingest plastic products and other items they mistake as food, and inadvertently feed them to their young. (It’s estimated that as many as five tons of plastic are accidentally fed to albatross chicks each year.)

Said refuge biologist Pete Leary: “It is a poignant and overwhelming reality that plastics discarded at sea float, from toothbrushes to millions of bottle caps, and are used as a substrate for flying fish to attack their eggs, a food highly prized by foraging albatross and ultimately regurgitated into the chick’s mouth.”

Leary added that a chick’s survival is solely dependent on the health of its mother and her mate, which combine to provide food and protection. Midway boasts the world’s largest population of Laysan albatross, soaring surface feeders with six-foot wingspans.

About 71% of the world’s population nests at the atoll, which is most famous for the Battle of Midway and the atoll’s pivotal role during World War II.

When the birds are not nesting, they soar in wind currents for thousands of miles while foraging.

They do this for five months before returning to the same nesting sites, year after year. During the nesting season, the female and male albatross take turns foraging while the other cares for the chick.

An albatross will lay only one egg per year, and its believed that Wisdom has raised at least 30 to 35 chicks, possibly many more.

That's one busy bird!

–Pete Thomas, via GrindTv Outdoor

–Top two images are courtesy of Ann Bell/USFWS. Bottom image showing nesting birds is courtesy of David Patte/USFWS

Amazing eagle-cam footage affords bird's-eye view of the Alps

If you've ever wondered what it's like to soar like an eagle, watch the video and enjoy a spectacular flight over the famous Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) region in the French Alps.

The bald eagle, presumably a trained raptor, is outfitted with a small camera on its back and viewers are treated to a bird's-eye view of verdant hillsides and icy valley.

 
Details are sparse. The clip was uploaded uploaded Monday by a user named Srachi and titled, "Flying eagle point of view," with reference to the Mer de Glace.

A quick YouTube search with the keywords "eagle" and "Mer de Glace" revealed no other versions using this  clip.

We messaged Srachi for more details but have not yet heard from the user.

The footage, however, looks genuine. Check out the man in the white shirt, who is off-trail (22-second mark).

He appears to know what's going on, but might simply be reacting to an approaching eagle with a camera on its back.

Regardless, the footage is incredible and might viewers with a sudden urge to fly.

--Note: A similar version of this post appears on GrindTv Outdoor

Rare bird sighting near Malibu: blue-footed booby

A blue-footed booby, either lost or merely adventurous, was spotted Friday morning near Gladstone's restaurant in Pacific Palisades north of Malibu.

SoCal Wild reports that biologist Dan Cooper made the initial sighting at about 7:45 a.m. He had stopped at a Pacific Coast Highway overlook to watch birds feeding on schooling bait fish when he noticed the booby bobbing atop the surface.

In an observation report to e-Bird, a sighting program run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, Cooper wrote: "It flapped once in about an hour of observation, and I was able to see it had whitish at the base of the tail/rump (also visible when it was facing away from me), as well as extensively pale wing linings. It had a very long, darkish bill, but this would 'flash' pale, as would the crown and neck, depending on the angle…'

Another bird enthusiast, David Bell, also filed an observation report to e-Bird:  "About an hour later it came in closer to shore to join a group of feeding cormorants, pelicans and gulls around a pod of porpoises. The obvious irregular white spots above made it immediately obvious that it was a blue-footed booby, a species I have seen many times in Mexico and occasionally elsewhere."

Blue-footed boobies are large seabirds found typically in warm coastal waters of the Pacific. They rarely visit the West Coast but have been sighted in California, Texas, and Arizona.

The  birds do not construct nests and lays eggs on bare ground (usually on offshore islands). They forages offshore on fish, and are partial to flying fish.

They're distinguishable by their bright-blue webbed feet, of course. Adult birds, typically, are white with dark wings, with a whitish head, a darkish face, and a pale, grayish bill.

Click the audio link provided here and listen to the blue-footed booby's peculiar call.

–Note: Photo is generic and not the booby spotted near Malibu. Credit: Wikipedia

–Hat tip to LaObserved

Ospreys' beautiful new nest also a potential death trap (video)

Ospreys are majestic birds of prey whose sharp eyes are almost always cast upon the water--because fish make up nearly 100% of their diet.

Thus, they build nests close to the shores of oceans, lakes and estuaries--often atop objects such as telephone poles, platforms, channel markers and tree snags.

In many cases, the nests are highly visible and Meg McDonald, of Wild Northwest Beauty, recently captured extraordinary footage showing an osprey pair constructing its nest.

 

What's striking, besides the imagery, is the nest itself: It reveals what McDonald describes as "fishnet scraps," which represent a serious entanglement danger to the adult ospreys and their young.

To be sure, the stunning footage captured at Washington's Sprague Lake carries a powerful anti-littering message.

For good measure, though, McDonald added: "This is just one example of how human litter puts wild animals at risk. Discarded ocean fishnets kill hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, and porpoises each year—trapping them underwater and drowning them as they desperately thrash to escape. PLEASE DON'T LITTER!"

--Pete Thomas

Photo showing ospreys building their nest is a screen grab from Meg McDonald's video

--Find Wild Northwest Beauty Photography on Facebook

Blackbird catches midair flight... atop a red-tailed hawk

Sometimes, when relentlessly fighting off hawks, blackbirds need a place to rest.

Or so it might seem to anyone viewing a remarkable image captured recently by Bay Area photographer Eric Dugan.

It shows a red-winged blackbird standing atop a soaring red-tailed hawk as if it were catching a ride to some other destination.

Dugan's images, captured at Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area in Northern California, appeared Tuesday in the San Francisco Chronicle. He described the event to outdoors columnist Tom Stienstra:

"I was exploring the wildlife refuge and heard the screech of a red-tailed hawk, loud and repeated. I scanned the sky but didn’t see anything at first. Then, in the distance, I saw a young red-tailed hawk sitting on a telephone pole and the red-winged blackbirds were jumping on and off its back and head, apparently to drive it away from a nesting  area.

"I immediately stopped, changed to my long lens and set up my camera in anticipation for the show. As I walked closer, I anticipated that the hawk would take flight and the blackbirds would pursue it, to drive it out of their territory. I raised the camera and the blackbird actually landed on the hawk multiple times.

"The small bird was so far more maneuverable in flight that all the hawk could do was tolerate it and fly away."

Dugan explained via email that the photos "are 100% legit" and that his only edits were exposure- and shadow-related because lighting was harsh at certain points because of the bright sunshine.

"I went back to the same spot a few days later hoping lightning would strike twice," he said. "But the red-tailed hawks were hunting way off in the distance."

--Pete Thomas

Related story: Hawks-versus-ravens dogfight photographed off Palos Verdes