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Cordova Ranger District, U.S. Forest Service
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Red Phalarope
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Thousands of rare red phalaropes, many of them hungry, are looking for refuge in Half Moon Bay, reports the Mercury News. The birds normally live many miles offshore and are rarely seen on land. But, apparently driven by the storms that are churning our coast, they’re showing up around the Bay Area, especially on the Coastside, and a flock of 1,200 has been spotted in Half Moon Bay.
Weather may be to blame. The birds float and eat by skimming sea life from the surface of the water. Smaller than a robin, they are easily tossed and turned by turbulent ocean waves and can’t eat under those conditions.
“There are storms across the entire Pacific, from China to the west coast of California. It’s a steady stream of storms, with no break in between them,’’ said Steve Anderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Monterey.
The normal cold water upwilling that occurs during the summer months that brings up the krill that fuel the foodchain failed to operate this year so that breeding birds on the Farallons and other islands were unable to raise young; also many adult birds were reported to have starved. We have storms every year without the phalaropes having abandoned the ocean wholesale as in this case, so it looks like a continuation of that phenomenon. I found one on Monday morning at the intersection of Main Street and Seymore that had been struck by a car. Odd demise for an ocean-going bird, but then hundreds were reported killed on 101. But it has nothing to do with global warming, just the bird’s penchant for risky behavior.