[EBB Sightings] alcatraz Island II

Dear Birding Friends:

On Thursday I made my second trip to Alcatraz Island with the GGAS
group.  Once again, we were met on the dock by the dynamic and
knowledgeable park biologist, Chris Hellwig.  Instead of being a
typical gray windy Alcatraz day, it seemed more like Hawaii on this the
hottest day so far of the year.

Five weeks ago, Western Gulls, Brandts Cormorants, and Snowy Egrets
were on their nests.  On Thursday, fuzzy, spotted Western Gull chicks
were investigating their new world.  A few adults still brooding eggs,
beaks have opened, panted in the heat. Naked young cormorants hid under
the adults or were shielded from the sun by the parents' outstretched
wings. The brilliant blue gular patches on the adult males, so evident
earlier, are fading. Young egrets, all tufts and sprouted feathers,
squabbled among themselves preparing for the more serious contests of
adulthood. 

Probably a month from now at the time of the next GGAS trip, young
gulls were be trying their wings and cormorant young will be slipping
off the cliffs into the water for their first launch.

Alcatraz is a place of joyful renewal.  Thousands of seabirds, a few
years ago almost entirely absent, have established protected colonies. 
The gardens, once languishing, are thriving under the restorative
efforts of the Garden Conservancy.  An especially arresting sight -- a
thick drift of pink and red valerian flowing though the gaping
entrances of the ruined warden's house on its hilltop.

Phila Rogers




       
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