Helping at the Fiesta Island Least Tern Site

Today, I went to Fiesta Island to help the San Diego Audubon Society work on their little patch of land on Fiesta Island where the least tern nest.  I had worked that area last year, but this year they set aside areas of land to hand manage.

We were mostly taking out tumbleweeds and cockleburrs.  Here are some cockleburr seeds:

And, here is a cockleburr plant.  Fortunately, it had been raining the last few days, so the ground was soft.  They were easy to pull with their fairly shallow roots.

Like last year, there were killdeer here.  I think it was a family of three.  The one on the left is a young male.  The one on the right might be a female, possibly the mom.

This might be dad.

Lots and lots of horned larks, too!

And, a Say's phoebe:

On the other side of the island, away from the site there was a skimmer skimming:

Some godwits and willets.  There was a dunlin hanging around with them, too, but the picture I got of him was blurry:

A godwit and dowitchers. 

And, there were brant on the shore.

This brant let me get really close.  I could have gotten closer, but I am not familiar with the warning or nervous behavior signs of brant and I know geese can get mean, so I didn't get any closer than I needed to.  He seemed to be very calm, perhaps he didn't feel well:

I haven't been to Lake Murray in a few days (except to find Oreo, which I did and he's doing well), but I remember seeing a pile of feathers near the bench where everyone feeds the ducks.  I couldn't figure out who they belonged to because the feathers were fairly light in color,  but had a little mallard pattern to them except smaller.   There were other feathers around, too, including a lot of gray down, gray feathers, and a light-brown primary flight feather.  I recently realized that I haven't seen the little brown and gray male call duck since I found the feathers.  I didn't think he had any mallard-like pattern to his feathers, but I saw the photo I posted a couple weeks ago and he does have a mallard pattern to his feathers around his shoulder area.  He was sick recently, but got better.  But, he may not have fully recovered and I think a coyote might have gotten him.  He had been there for a very long time and may have also been a bit on the older side.  He could fly extremely well, though.  But, I don't think he's been flying much lately.

Volunteers needed for River Park Nest Box Program.

I thought I should pass this along as this organization needs help restoring native birds and wildlife to the riparian habitat around the Lakeside portion of the San Diego river.

Here is their description of the program and the opportunity:

The purpose of the volunteer Nest Box Program is to attract birds that once lived along the San Diego River in Lakeside back to this restored habitat. This segment of the San Diego River had long been the focus of extensive sand mining operations and heavy industry. Such industrial operations are coming to an end and a new phase of the river’s life is at hand; one in which nature and humanity work in harmony! Lakeside’s River Park Conservancy purchased this property in 2003 and has been busy restoring it by removing invasive species and planting California native species that will attract birds and wildlife back to the river. These critters will use this new habitat to build their homes, find food and breed in. Volunteers who are accepted into the Nest Box Program will learn about these animals and encourage their introduction back by building, installing, monitoring and maintaining nest boxes.

For more information, please contact the conservancy using the information below:

Membership & Volunteer Manager
Lakeside's River Park Conservancy
619-443-4770

www.lakesideriverpark.org