As promised on today's West Coast Live radio show (host=Sedge Thomson; website=wcl.org), here's an occasional record of encounters with nature-laughter.
On the subject of Surf Scoters, those natty black-and-white sea ducks that frequent our bays and beaches, the ones you see riding foamy turbulence in the shallows at sand beaches, or calmly swim-flying" right through breaking waves: It turns out they can come ashore to forage, as witnessed five days ago at the Fish Docks area of outer Point Reyes. Normally scoters dive in water up to 20 feet deep and haul in mussels (ripping them right off of substrates), herring roe (ditto), and crustaceans (furrowing them out of the sand). On the day in question, evidently the tide was just right for mole crabs, Surf Scoters' favored tidbit inside Drakes Bay, to concentrate at the water's edge. Two adult male ducks, bright black with white headgear and outrageous bills, came waddling into web-deep water and higher. Occasionally, one would slurp its entire face into the saturated sand. Or sink down on his belly an inch or so deep, lean forward, and immerse his head in the mole-crab bisque. The little prey items may have the last laugh, but that's another story. Bon appetit, everyone.
On the subject of Surf Scoters, those natty black-and-white sea ducks that frequent our bays and beaches, the ones you see riding foamy turbulence in the shallows at sand beaches, or calmly swim-flying" right through breaking waves: It turns out they can come ashore to forage, as witnessed five days ago at the Fish Docks area of outer Point Reyes. Normally scoters dive in water up to 20 feet deep and haul in mussels (ripping them right off of substrates), herring roe (ditto), and crustaceans (furrowing them out of the sand). On the day in question, evidently the tide was just right for mole crabs, Surf Scoters' favored tidbit inside Drakes Bay, to concentrate at the water's edge. Two adult male ducks, bright black with white headgear and outrageous bills, came waddling into web-deep water and higher. Occasionally, one would slurp its entire face into the saturated sand. Or sink down on his belly an inch or so deep, lean forward, and immerse his head in the mole-crab bisque. The little prey items may have the last laugh, but that's another story. Bon appetit, everyone.