May 2

How about those shorebirds? Our time at the Godwit Days were filled with shorebirds, most of which we don’t see in our valley meanders.

First, of course, we saw the eponymous Marbled Godwit. This is a rather large shorebird, with a long, two-colored bill that is slightly upturned at the end. There were dozens of these noisy cinnamon-colored birds following the tide line at the Arcata Marsh. We also saw there Willets, also big waders, but with a medium straight bill and blue-gray legs. When they fly they have a bright band of white across their wings. We also saw Dunlins, a wader of half the size of the godwits and willets. This bird has a longish black bill, drooping a bit at the tip, and black legs. Some had the black patch on the belly that indicates breeding plumage.

We saw Whimbrels. This bird is a plain brown curlew, as large as the Marbled Godwit, with a white stripe above its eye. Its bill is long and down-curling, and these creatures breed in the far north. And we were delighted to see Long-billed Curlews. These birds are a deeper brown, and their long, down-curved bills are so long as to look like they might overbalance the bird. These birds are another threatened species story. They have suffered in numbers in official counts, primarily due to loss of habitat. Two things account for a resurgence in numbers counted in the California Central Valley. First, scientists started counting them in February rather than the more traditional June, at which point virtually all were raising babies in the far north. More importantly, rice farmers in the Valley have for the most part stopped burning the rice stubble in the fall, in order to reduce the smoke pollution that was so prevalent in Valley autumns. This had the additional benefit of leaving that rice stubble for the Long-billed Curlews, who are now counted in greater numbers.

We saw Greater Yellowlegs, another bird where we wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference from the Lesser Yellowlegs, absent the Lesser, without an informed guide. Ours said, however, that the Greater’s bill length is half again longer than its head, while the Lesser’s is just head size. This beak comparison to the rest of the body turns out to be a useful identifier in many birds. And, the bright yellow/orange legs were distinctive. And we saw Long-billed Dowitchers, another case where we rely on the expertise of guides to distinguish from Short-billed relatives. We take some comfort from the fact that the two races were seen as a single type until the 1950’s. They have cinnamon colors with gray and white, and are most notable for their ‘sewing machine’ jabs into the sand as they graze.

We saw Black-bellied Plovers, chunkier than some of the other shorebirds and with short, heavy bills. These birds also nest in the arctic tundra. Like Killdeer, they stop suddenly and then dart off on their business. And we saw Black Turnstones, slightly smaller birds with a mostly black head, breast and back and white tummy. Like so many of these shorebirds, these Turnstones breed in the north, in this case in coastal Alaska. And we saw the American Black Oystercatcher, eye-catching with its orange eye-ring, bright orange beak and pink legs. This is a larger bird than either the Turnstone or Plover.

And we saw big bunches of Common Murres. These black and white birds are called “penguins of the north” and we saw them in large clusters on Castle Rock just offshore from Crescent City. They were hanging out with the Bird of the Day for Sunday of our Godwit Days festival, the Tufted Puffin. Truly, we’d be hard-pressed to say that we saw the Puffins closely. They were very hard to see even with the spotting scopes, but they do wobble about with their orange beaks. And they arrived just in time for Godwit Days. We visited the point of land from where we could see Castle Rock twice, and it was exciting when the fog lifted enough in the afternoon for us to see them. In order to see them up close, we’ll have to go to Alaska!

Total to 5/2: 100!!