Appreciating the birds

Fall 2008

Wildlife

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

By James Michael Dorsey

WITH A cerulean canopy over my head and foamy green water beneath my keel, it is another perfect day off the coast of California.

As a marine naturalist, I spend much of my time on the water chasing whales (my chosen specialty), but gradually over the years I have come to have a special appreciation for the myriad selection of seabirds that often accompany me on my paddling journeys.

  I have had a young eagle that was learning how to fly rest on my deck, and have been dive-bombed by an osprey after I picked up its dropped fish. I have surprised submerged cormorants who surface near me after hunting underwater, and once cut a floundering pelican loose from an abandoned fishing net.

  I have had a unique look at our coastal winged life and been able to photograph much of it closer than most people will ever have the opportunity to see.

  Along the shore, I have passed thousands of oystercatchers and sandpipers, feeding in the sand of low tides, and watched countless gulls and Shearwaters dive for leftover scraps among lunge-feeding humpback whales.

The silence of a kayak has given me unprecedented entry to this world in ways those in motorized boats will never know.

While the array of feathered friends to watch during a paddle is downright staggering, I have chosen here to present some of the more fascinating species based on personal preference and their own natural majesty.

  These are the birds I see on a regular basis while paddling off the coast of California and have come to call them friends.

First by far, has to be the osprey. Pandion haliaetius, colloquially known as a seahawk, fishhawk or sea eagle, is a diurnal raptor found on all continents except Antarctica, although it exists in South America solely as a non-breeding migrant. It is unusual in that it is a single species found in almost all parts of the world. Diurnal is a fancy scientific term meaning it hunts during the day, and a raptor is a bird of prey. This one lives almost exclusively on fish that it expertly scoops out of the water with its razor sharp talons, which have a reversible outer toe allowing for greater grasping ability. It is the only raptor whose talons are of equal length but they are rounded rather than grooved as with other birds of prey.

It is regally colored with a mostly white underside but often has a mantle of brown across its chest and dark brown on the top of the wings. The face wears a mask of brown and the eyes range from golden to brown with a clear, pale-blue nictitating membrane.

  The osprey enters the world after a five-week incubation from a clutch of two to four eggs. When fully grown it will stand two feet tall and weigh in at three to four pounds with a six-foot wingspan. It will reach sexual maturity in three to four years and can expect, barring natural calamities, to live 25-30 years.

Also, being a true eagle, it mates for life and uses only a single nest, providing nature does not intervene.

James Michael Dorsey can be reached at whalekeeper@yahoo.com.