April 20, 2021

IN MEMORIAM, LIGUSTRUM WETLAND?

Please be advised that, while this Bird of the Day blog will continue daily, I sadly will have to depart from my prior practice of posting a picture of a bird taken between one and ten days prior to the post. I say sadly, because the birds that have historically inhabited or visited the wetland daily, often approaching 1,000, have departed. We have had a drought for several months, but the wetland was surviving well. Great Blue Herons and Great and Snowy Egrets were nesting and beginning to fledge their young. During the drought a project to correct a drainage issue was undertaken. Whether because of the drought or the project, the water level in the wetland dropped until it was little more than a mud basin. This allowed predators, such as bobcats and possibly wild pigs to enter the wetland and prey on the nesting birds. Within days the nests were empty, and sadly the chicks and some parent egrets and herons were dead. While we mourn their loss, and the daily visits of the countless other birds, we hope that the developer will remediate this problem, or worst case, when the rainy season begins in earnest the wetland will refill and will rise like the proverbial phoenix and the birds will return. Until then, continue to enjoy photos from the past.