Observations in the natural world.
The autumn storms are upon us, here in the Pacific Northwest. I love the changing of the seasons. Both spring and autumn seem to be the warring times between summer weather and winter weather. The cold and warm fronts battle overhead in thunderous roils of sound and flashes of hurling bolts. Then the planet finishes her repositioning and everything settles down into the regular weather of winter, or summer, whatever the case may be.
A casualty in the autumn battles are hoards of stranded western grebes washing ashore. These birds feed in the outer surf zone of the beach. When the waves start crashing in response to the violent winds, many of these birds become compromised. Sand and algae become embedded in the barbules of their feathers, which breaks the waterproof seal that keeps these animals warm and dry in the cold waters of the north Pacific. The affected bird will then spend all its time preening in an attempt to fix the leak. They become weak from hunger and end up beached.
Grebes are a purely aquatic animal. Their legs are attached at the very end of their bodies, to make for easier diving. They also have specially-designed feet - rather than the webbed feet of most aquatic birds, grebe feet have flaps on each toe. This makes swimming more efficient because there is less resistance on each up-stroke. But the combination of the leg placement and these flappy feet make it very difficult for these birds to walk on land. They avoid this by nesting on floating mats of vegetation.
Once washed ashore, the affected grebe will die. Placing them back into the ocean, even in a calm area like a protected bay, will not save them. If the bird is to survive, it must be cared for. This must be done by someone who is trained to care for the particular species. Grebes required hydration as well as food to keep them alive in captivity. Once they’ve regained their strength, they are carefully washed in order to restore their feathers’ waterproofing ability. You can tell when the bird is clean because its feathers start repelling water.
(Urban legend states that birds waterproof their feathers with oil from a special gland on the base of their tails. The oil from this gland is like conditioner for your hair. The real waterproofing comes from the structure of the feather, which has interlocking barbules that lock out water. When the barbules can’t lock because of a foreign substance, water is able to penetrate. Even a tiny hole can kill a bird - their feathers are their only defense against the cold. They don’t have massive fat stores like many cold-weather mammals.)
It is stranding-season. Support your local wildlife rehabilitator! (If you don’t have one, you can support mine.) They need volunteers as much as, if not more than money donations! Thank you.
Something I love about being a naturalist is all the discoveries! I certainly don’t have all the answers, and sometimes I don’t even know where to find the answer to a question I have. Those are my favorite! Although frustrating when I want a quick answer, or even more so when someone else wants a quick answer from me, I love making the discovery on my own.
For years I knew of a bird in our area only by its habits of traveling in medium to large noisy flocks and of staying high in the canopy of evergreen trees. Because of the backlighting of looking at these birds from below, and a lack of binoculars when the birds were around, I could never identify them. I didn’t have a clue!
Just last year, seven years after my first experience with them, a small flock of crossbills landed in a short tree near my vehicle. I pulled out my binoculars and was gifted with the answer to my long-held question. What made this an even more fulfilling discovery for me was that I already had experience with crossbills. Two strings of observations joined together to give me a more vibrant understanding of this local bird!
The reason I bring this up is because my topic today is the second in a row where I don’t know much about my subject. One of this year’s fawns was born with a white rump and hindquarters. This is the second time I’ve seen this, the last time was about four years ago in the same area. I never saw that past fawn as an adult, although a co-worker told me today that he saw a fully albino adult female deer in the same area about four years ago. It’s apparent that this fawn’s mother is a normal-colored deer, and no one’s ever seen an albino male, so I don’t think it’s hereditary.
Anyway, it’s pretty cool and I wanted to share a photo of the animal with you. If you understand albinoism in animals and would like to share your knowledge, please leave a comment below.
You know time flies when one day you’re looking at an eclipse of the full moon, and by the time you write about it you’re into the next cycle already!
The lunar eclipse last month was worth the lost sleep on a work night! I’d thought about it before bed and decided I wouldn’t set the alarm, but mentioned to my internal clock that it would be nice if I woke up while it was happening.
2:30 a.m. Bling! Eyes wide open and the vanishing full moon directly outside my bedroom window! I lept out of bed, grabbed the camera, and spent the next hour recording every micro-movement of Earth’s shadow across the face of the moon. Realizing the eclipse wasn’t going to be a movie-length event, I finally went back to bed. When I woke again at 5:10 a.m., the shadow was still leaving the edge of the moon.
It was a mind-expanding experience. When it was in full shadow, the moon was dark with a reddish wash and the stars all around it were bright and visible.
And trying to photograph the darkened moon at night really gives you a sense of how fast that globe is moving relative to Earth!
The eclipse at 2:54 am, 3:17 am, and 5:15am.
I just drove up the beach to pick up another cormorant. The last several weeks have been extremely busy for the local wildlife rehab center. Every other year, since at least 1997, the double-crested cormorants in our area experience an infestation from the Newcastle virus.
Newcastle attacks the brain, causing neurological symptoms such as head-swaying (think Stevie Wonder), lack of balance and disorientation, and paralysis of limbs. Cormorants have been showing up in forests miles from shore, walking the streets of local towns, and stuffed in crevices in between driftwood and rocky headlands. 
Last Thursday I picked one up off the highway near my house. Its left wing was tucked tightly against its body. Everything else about the bird seemed normal and Newcastle’s didn’t occur to me until the director of the Center told me that the paralysis can occur in any limb. Previously I’d only seen it in the legs.
There are different strains of Newcastle’s, and this one appears to be species-specific to double-crested cormorants. The Center has over 60 cormorants in recovery as of this writing. If the animal has been compromised to the point of being non-releasable, then it is euthanized.
