Avian Feeding Frenzy with Anchovies on the Menu

Just south of the southern end of Imperial Beach, the feasting continued today. I arrived around 1:30 pm or so, and watched the masses of terns, gulls, pelicans and shearwaters circling and diving, with many floating on the water.

By about 2:30 most of this mass had dispersed.

One anchovy washed ashore - surprising that so few seemed to make it to the sand, considering the chaos just off the beach.

The mass of birds at a slight distance.

This was about the peak of activity that I observed. Coronado Islands in the background.

At this point many of the birds were just a couple dozen feet out from the sand, with some right at the shore's edge. There were a few fish in the shallows in this spot.

The cause of all the fuss (or more accurately, this one's buddies offshore!).

There were small feathers all over the wet sand.

Looking towards the north, the line of terns and other birds went on well into the distance. 

Summery Day on the South County Shore

Gary and I took a little trip yesterday to explore the beach just north of Imperial Beach and south of Silver Strand State Beach. A lot of organic material had washed ashore, including masses of California Mussels, as well as much kelp.

Mussel mass with surf grass

Some of the mussels had Leaf Barnacles attached.

California Mussel with Leaf Barnacles

This is a beach popular with clammers due to its concentration of Pismo Clams. What I presumed to be immature clam shells were here and there on the shore.

A small clam - about 30 mm in length

A larger specimen, but nowhere near the final adult size!

Most of the shells on this beach are heavily wave-worn, like this Chestnut Cowrie.

Chestnut Cowrie, after much rolling around in the sand and surf

The beach was surprisingly bird-filled, with Willets, Marbled Godwits, and Forster's Terns being present in numbers (the Forster's Terns in large numbers as they fished in the huge anchovy schools off shore). We also saw the occasional Royal Tern in full breeding plumage. A lone Long-billed Curlew graced the beach and we saw several more in the Tijuana Estuary area later.

Long-billed Curlew, with the Silver Strand and downtown San Diego, as well as the Coronado Bridge, visible in the background

We saw easily over a half dozen Snowy Plovers skulking in the higher, drier portions of the beach as well. Signs discourage people or dogs from walking in their territory, but no fences exist, as we saw in Oregon last month for the protection of this species. The plovers are extremely well camouflaged, and tend to move in short bursts of activity, as opposed to just meandering around as the Willets do.

Snowy Plover standing at the edge of a tire track!

We also saw a merganser hanging around the edge of the water, and occasionally entering the shallows. A scoter (probably a Surf Scoter) was seen fishing in the shallows, as well.

Scoter in shallow water