Western Sandpipers on our shores
Western Sandpiper Photo Credit: Alvaro Jaramillo
**Nature Nugget**
Check out this photo of the Western Sandpiper, taken from local bird specialist, Alvaro Jaramillo. These Western Sandpipers are migrating through the San Mateo County coast right now on their way up to northernmost Alaska. The Western Sandpiper shows bright rusty colors on the back and face during the breeding season and grayish in winter. It is 6-7 inches in length and has a wingspan of 10-15 inches, with white undersides, a long bill with a slightly curved tip, long legs, and slightly webbed feet. Females tend to be larger and have longer bills than males.
The Western Sandpipers can be found probing into the mud or sand, extracting aquatic invertebrates (such as crustaceans, mollusks, and marine worms), feeding in or at the edge of shallow water. Their diet also includes insects, spiders, and larvae, which they pick from plants or water.
Pacific Flyway and the Coastside's local Warblers
Wilson’s Warbler Photo Credit: Sue Orwig
** Nature Nugget**
The Pacific Flyway is one of North America’s four main migration routes for birds, it extends from Alaska and Canada, through California, to Mexico and South America and stretches from the Rocky Mountains west to the Pacific Ocean. Birds follow ancestral patterns along this route as they travel the flyway on their annual north-south migration, which is over 4,000 miles long and, in places, over 1,000 miles wide.
Each year at least a billion birds migrate along the Pacific Flyway, including more than 350 bird species, and this time of year the Pacific Flyway is rockin’!!
As the largest estuary (tidal mouth of a large river) on the Pacific coasts of both North and South America, the San Francisco Bay is a critically important stopover for birds moving along the Pacific Flyway. The Bay offers an abundance, and diversity of habitat for a great number of migrant birds. Here on the peninsula, we are lucky to view a great number of these birds, whether they winter here, stay for the late spring/summer, or just stop in on their way through.
Some birds to pay particular attention to right here on the coast are the Warblers. In April to May, the Townsend’s and Yellow-rumped Warblers, who you may have seen cross your path or in your backyard from August/ September are leaving to head to their northern summer breeding grounds for a few months. In exchange, from April to September, we get our opportunity to see another beautiful yellow colored Warbler the Wilson’s Warbler.
Check out this link to Cornell Lab’s “All About Birds” to learn a little bit about each of these (and other) Warblers and hear their songs: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/browse/shape/Warblers
Junior Land Stewards Today
Photo Credit: Barbara Dye
Hello Coastside Land Trust friends,
We are all currently experiencing a time of great change. In our homes, as we shelter in place, we often feel vulnerable and uneasy. We are isolated and disconnected. But there is something healing about looking out the window, about taking a step outside to listen to the birds, to observe the spring blooms, to feel the movement of the air. It is something that crosses generations, and cultures, and political boundaries.
To observe nature, and to be curious about it is a gift we can give to ourselves. This is also something that we can help our children to understand and to appreciate. The main purpose of the Junior Land Stewards program has been to do just this - to connect our Coastside children with the natural world, and to develop a genuine sense of wonder and care for their open spaces, and the natural world around them. We dually have called upon them to become stewards of the land, so that they are not solely observers, but that they identify themselves in a way that is connected to the earth, and responsible for it.
In this difficult time, we must count our blessings. One great blessing is that our Junior Land Stewards had just the right amount of time this year to take part in their 4 field studies projects. They explored our local open space and critically discussed and observed the function and interdependence of the many species of plants and animals. Students dissected flowers and plants and seeds. They sowed their own seeds and watched them grow, and develop- and ultimately planted them into Wavecrest Open Space in the form of 3 pollinator gardens. They did this with the goal of attracting and providing food for critically important pollinators (e.g. birds, butterflies, bees, and other insects), while adding to the diversity of the native plants and the overall health of the coastal prairie habitat. Our own Half Moon Bay High School environmental education students served as leaders in this program, and were also given ample opportunities to connect with nature and be the stewards in this process.
As we were first asked to shelter in place, this program seemed like something that we would have to put on hold. After all, how could we ask kids to get their hands dirty outside when they are sheltering in their homes? Community members and students, however, have quickly proven us wrong, reminding us that this is actually the time when the original tenants of the program are critically important. Students must observe that the plants and birds and other animals continue to live and thrive, and grow- regardless of our current struggles. The pollinator plants that our students placed into the ground less than 2 months ago have grown exponentially, and many have begun to bloom. They are already attracting pollinators and Wavecrest Open Space is vibrant and alive with the changes of Spring. Students are observing how their stewardship continues to impact the world around them, via virtual weekly field trips to their garden plots (weekly photos and videos taken by CLT staff).
The Junior Land Stewards are also being challenged weekly to get outside into their own backyards, or to look out their windows to take the soundscape, to observe and analyze nearby trees, to examine clouds and traces of the animals around them. Here is one fourth grade student’s recent personal refection, written independently and shared with her teacher, Mrs. Arkell:
Why are wild, open spaces important to you and the world?
By: Kaylee Serrano
Wild and open spaces are important because they provide the habitat for mammals, birds, insects, and seeds to survive. Open space supports human health. Nature provides countless processes that give us high-quality air and clean and bountiful water. Open spaces have amazing plants that make it look one hundred times better. If the plants are native plants they are really good for the environment. If they are invasive plants they are not so good for the environment because invasive plants take over too much space. And we want to have more space for native plants.
Please stay tuned for our virtual gallery in which our students will share a great deal of their learning, through photographs, writing, and illustration. It is our hope that you too will find joy in witnessing the work, the thinking and the curiosity of our local Coastside students.
Eastern North Pacific Grey Whale
Photo credit: Nicole Larson
**Nature Nugget**
As many of you have come to notice, there is something quite incredible going on right off of our shoreline! The eastern North Pacific gray whales are currently passing through on the great northbound migration from Baja, Mexico to their Arctic feeding grounds. These whales travel between 9,000 -13,000 miles annually, undergoing one of the greatest migratory journeys of any mammal on earth. They have been doing this for approximately 30 million years, and have survived great hardship, including their complete return from the brink of extinction in the early 1900’s due to whaling. Today gray whales are protected by international law, they were removed from the Endangered Species List in 1994, and there are now approximately 26,000, similar to population numbers before modern-day whaling.
During their northbound migration the eastern North Pacific gray whales segment into two phases. The first phase includes newly pregnant females, followed by adult males and females, and then immature whales of both sexes. The second phase consists mostly of cows and calves, which migrate inland from the greater pod, traveling very close to shore, in order to be protected from predators. Gray whales can be seen passing by California in March, April, and May on their northern journey, and again in December and January during their southern migration.
Junior Land Stewards in the Field
Over the last two weeks, the fourth grade students at Hatch Elementary and the Half Moon Bay High School environmental education students headed back to Wavecrest Open Space to expand their native pollinator plant gardens. They planted seedlings that they grew in their classrooms, as well as native plants provided by the California State Parks Nursery. These last trips have concluded their field studies and stewardship projects in the Wavecrest Open Space for the school year. Students will continue to work within the classroom as they prepare for a public presentation of all of their learning. This event is open to community members of all ages to learn about our local ecosystem.