Colorado Lagoon

I suppose I should talk a bit about the Colorado Lagoon considering I spend a lot of my time there. That sentence sounds like it is torturous; it really isn’t, I am very fond of the place. The Lagoon is a small tidal (although muted tidal) wetland in East Long Beach. That means it is as salty as salty gets and every animal in Alamitos Bay that can fit through the big steel bars in front of the opening to the 1000 foot underground culvert in Marine Stadium is in the Colorado Lagoon. This surprises a lot of people, especially the many people who swim there in the summer and call it a pond. The kids will come out of the water with a big smile on their face and when we get to talk about the sting rays that live there the smile transforms. Most kids drop their jaws and open their eyes wide but it is always great to see the adventurous ones: their smile grows larger.

That is what I hang out at the Lagoon and try to do – frighten little children. I joke. I work with the Friends of Colorado Lagoon (FOCL), a non profit designed to help the Lagoon, and get to talk to kids, and whoever shows up, about the Lagoon and the many creatures that inhabit the marine environment. We play games, engage with nature displays and books and explore. Exploring the Lagoon is one of the favorites for the children running around. I give them a bucket and a net, some rules about keeping the specimens they find alive and let them find what they can. They bring back the creatures to a small aquarium and we all get to talk about it. Win-win considering I can’t catch fish for the life of me and they are the ones who need to be getting dirty and acting like the Crocodile Hunter anyway. The point is to facilitate a constructive relationship with nature and I believe this is a good start.

Anyway, Science Shack hours are 2-7pm Thursday-Sunday until Labor Day. Everyone is welcome and it is free. We are on the Appian Way side of the Colorado Lagoon in the pretty painted building called the Wetlands and Marine Science Education Center (WAMSEC). Come on by, we’ll play some Ultimate Frisbee and talk about birds.

Oh and the Colorado Lagoon is also in the draft EIR (Environmental Impact Report) portion of a multi-million dollar restoration. It is massive and I don’t want to write about it here – it is very complex. But you can come down to the Lagoon during the Science Shack hours and talk to me about it. You can also check out the EIR site to read the entire document and this site to learn about the Lagoon. And you can contact this guy:craig_chalfant@longbeach.gov if you want to make comments on it, officially, before July 11th.

Enjoy,

Taylor

Least Terns at Anaheim Bay

One of the salt-marshes that I am starting to get to know a little bit better is Anaheim Bay. It is also known as the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. And while the name sounds intimidating- as are the guards at the entrance gate and the building you pass that says “Torpedo Facility”- the marsh is a bit over 900 acres of near-perfection.

My personal relationship with the wetland started a couple of years ago. I helped a friend with his California Round Ray research there and since then started doing research on the Belding’s Savannah Sparrow. My colleague, Eric Zahn, and I were measuring the flight initiation distances of this State Endangered bird and the refuge was one of our research sites. We probably had a dozen or so visits, a couple hours each time, and the amount I was exposed to is mind-boggling. I saw my first Short-Eared Owl, Great Blue Heron nests, Salt-Marsh Tiger Beetle, Harrier Hawk and most recently, Least Tern chicks.

The marsh is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and they have some great projects on their hands. It is apparent when driving through the area that they have Light-Footed Clapper Rails (while attached to Cordgrass, their nests float with the tides) and also a large Least Tern nesting colony. Both of these birds are endangered and I recently found myself sitting out in the marsh watching the more graceful of these rarities care for their chicks.

The refuge has an “Eyes on the Colony” volunteer program that places people in the marsh, four hour shifts from 7am to 7pm, to vigilantly keep watch over the little baby Terns. The whole point is to keep the 200 or so nests from being decimated by a coyote, raptor, heron or starlings (weird, huh?). Your weapon of choice? A noise gun. That and the electrified fence surrounding the colony are supposed to keep the Tern babies safe.

My first attempt at being a sentry was on Father’s Day with my dad, an avid birder. We kinda failed but it was really amazing. We watched an American Kestrel, on his third attempt, swoop into the colony and grab a Tern chick. Watching the collaboration of Least Tern adults attack the small raptor was impressive. More entertaining though was my dad and I running toward the colony arms raised and yelling while honking this deafening noise-gun (luckily you are in almost complete solitude out there with only egrets to mock you). I would like to believe that we helped the Terns scare the determined Kestrel off the first two times. More than that though, we helped the refuge’s personnel locate the Kestrel so that he can be removed from the area.

The experience is wonderful. You get to watch these magnificent birds raise their young (which are way too cute: they look like grey cotton balls and they run around their sandy habitat, nubby wings reaching in the air, crying for fish from the parents) in the middle of this dynamic marsh and help protect an endangered species. I chose the 3pm -7pm shift so that I can watch the sun set over the shifting tide. I’ve gone twice and am scheduled another two more times although will probably sign up more in July.

I realized the other day that the refuge has been a great classroom and teacher for me. It is experiences like this, facilitated by crucial government funding, which allowed me to interact with and feel connected to this unique habitat and help save a species of bird from extinction. I would recommend contacting Kirk Gilligan or John Fitch and signing up. It will remind you of the necessity of our continued attention for these diminishing habitats and accompanying wildlife. And you’ll get to see cute baby birds.

Check out these sites for info and scheduling:

http://www.fws.gov/

http://freecal.brownbearsw.com/sealbeacheotc

http://www.fws.gov/sandiegorefuges/Seal.htm

Taylor

Salt Marsh Plant #1: Marsh Rosemary- Limonium californicum

Marsh Rosemary- Limonium californicum

This is a stunning little plant that is found in the middle and upper part of salt marshes, mainly in California but also a bit into Mexico to the South and Oregon in the North. Also known as Sea Lavender, this plant is a perennial herb that displays a gorgeous purple during the summer and fall months.

According to calflora.net : the genus, Limonium, comes from the ancient Greek name Leimonion, supposedly from leimon, "a marsh" (ref. genus Limonium). The species californicum obviously references where it is found.

Many times the true native Limonium is confused with Perez’s Sea Lavender (Limonium perezii) or Algerian Sea Lavender (Limonium ramosissimum). Often I have found these two substitutes planted in restoration sites under the native misnomer. This is unfortunate because it is not difficult to differentiate between the native and non-native plants and with the many flowers on the stem I am assuming many seeds will be produced from these invaders.

I chose to present this salt marsh plant first because I walked out of my house the other day to water my potted plants and found the flowering stalk of one of my Marsh Rosemary’s creeping out of its basal leaf structure. The leaves are a very subtle green, kind of like cooked peas, and they are uniquely broad – a leaf characteristic not usually found in a salt marsh. However, a trait similar to its neighbors is the plant’s ability to remove the dangerous, water hoarding salt crystals abundant in the habitat. After absorbing the salt through its roots, Limonium will excrete the mineral from its leaves producing a white film on the dry leaves- and I promise it’s salty. But most exciting, now at least, is the fact that their distinctive lavender flowers are about to bloom. The foot-long or so stalk is growing, reaching for the sun, away from the competitive canopy close to the marsh floor. It will, starting in the next few weeks and going until December, blossom a cascading violet inflorescence (botanist term for a whole bunch of flowers).

I have not read this anywhere, or if I did I forget, but I have seen the rare Wandering Skipper on a Limonium flower, so I would venture to guess that the plant provides some nectar for the tiny butterfly. It seems appropriate considering the insect is coming out of the larval stage (where another salt-marsh plant, Salt Grass, provides necessary resources) and looking for food.

After noticing my plant beginning its sexual phase, I walked down to the Colorado Lagoon where I work and saw a little field of them stretching out toward the clouds. I am looking forward to my next Los Cerritos visit to see how the Sea Lavenders in that pristine habitat are displaying themselves.

The photo on top is from calflora.net but you can also find photos of this plant, and many other plants, at: calflora.org and laspilitas.com.

Taylor

Introducing myself

My name is Taylor Parker and I am going to be posting on this site in regards to wetlands. I suppose I was asked to talk about wetlands because, well, I love them and I spend a lot of time engaged with the study of them. It is a habitat type that is by its very essence dynamic, constantly changing through tidal influence and other abiotic impacts, not to mention the fluctuation of the myriad biological components. I have found the exciting truth that there is always something new to discover while exploring nature and wetlands have focused my interest. Specifically, the Los Cerritos Wetlands have facilitated this as it was, and continues to be, my classroom. I have relished the many experiences that this site has given; a special awe develops during each hike, kayak or boat trip where I am impressed and inspired by my surroundings. Every time I feel like I understand the complexity I find there is something I haven’t seen before and, every time, I am humbled and end up walking away in respectful perplexity.

So this is what I hope to share through the venue that EcoLink has created: a sense of respect and wonder for these incredible areas. From that I would like to present what I have learned, questions I have and issues concerning wetlands in the area and beyond. I am a plant person first and foremost– they baffle me— and was drawn to nature through plants, so bear with me if my preeminent discussion topic becomes floral rather than anything else. But you cannot talk about wetlands without talking about the unique plants that inhabit them and I would like to showcase the natural history of a new plant each month.

Other than this rough outline and jumping off point, I have no idea what I am going to cover other than wetlands. If you are reading this then you too are concerned with these areas somehow, so please contribute your thoughts as well and help me make this a discussion. I am looking forward to this opportunity and to see what comes out of it but most of all it will force me to go into Los Cerritos more to make sure I am utterly perplexed enough to talk about it.

Enjoy,

Taylor

Pacific Gyre solution?

A comment was left on this article http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/teen-decomposes-plastic-bag-in-three-months.php on Treehugger. “Interesting. And the digestion output is water. Could these be turned loose in the Pacific Gyre?” Which definitely poses a noteworthy question. The Pacific Gyre, a vortex in the North Pacific Ocean is now home to a “Garbage Patch” estimated to be the size of Texas to double the size of the US. That kind of mass amount of trash and debris obviously leads to some pretty complicated ecological impacts with animals ingesting the plastic they think is food and introducing it to the food chain. Unfortunately, the plastic is photograding, which is still breaking it down due to the sunlight constantly bombarding it and further decomposition may just make it easier to for the animals to get a hold of the smaller bits. Perhaps its a solution that should be evaluated. Who knows? It could be the answer.

Marcus Eriksen of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation makes routine trips to the Central Pacific to research the plastic island there. Algalita is a Long Beach based non profit. Check them out at www.algalita.org