[EBB Sightings] that Franklin's gull

Phila Rogers wrote:
> Why are the trees dead on the outermost island [at Lake Merritt]?
> The skeletons are nice frames for the cormorant nests but the fallen
> limbs littering the ground make me wonder in the rest of the tree is
> soon to follow.

Combination of salt and cormorant droppings, I think. There used to be a 
freshwater outlet out there - not sure if it was a pipe or a spring - 
but I've heard it's not flowing these days, and the lake is brackish. 
The fresh water coming in from street runoff and the buried streams at 
the Embarcadero end doesn't begin to balance the salt water tide race at 
12th Street. (Even at the Embarcadero end, it's salty enough to poison 
the turtles people release there in hopes of earning merit by doing a 
good deed....)

-- 
- Hilary Powers - hilary at powersedit.com - Oakland CA -
-   Freelance copyediting and developmental editing  -
-      The edit you want, when you want it done.     -