Pacific madrone ~ 05/28/09 ~ Los Padres Dam

Pacific madrone
Arbutus menziesii
Ericaceae

We always wondered what those small, colorful trees were that line several New Monterey streets off of Lighthouse Ave with bell-looking flowers and bright red, burry berries. It was hard to believe those landscape trees were the same as these very large beauties that grow out in the wild.

ps 06/22/10 - Well, I always try to learn something new. This wild species, A. menziesii, is native. The landscape trees in town are not and are a different species, A. unedo.

grunion greeting, 2009 #5

For a couple who religiously gets to bed by 10pm, all this late-night grunion greeting has whacked out our sleeping schedules! Technically, Tuesday night was not a Monterey monitoring night, but we were awake and fantasizing about calling the grunion hotline to report a W-3. Two nights before, we were thrilled just to see a handful of live grunion... hahaha, isn't that human nature, always wanting bigger and better? So we headed down to Del Monte Beach from 11:40pm-12:40am. Why not?

The skies had cleared up and it was extremely dark without a moon. We managed to see not one, but 2 black-crowned night herons in good ol' Charlie's favorite hunting spot. Between 12:22-12:25am, one of the night heron caught 2 grunions. That's it. We didn't see anything else.

Phooey! Our aspirations to report a W-3 will have to wait.

grunion greeting, 2009 #4

cormorant & grunion
new moon cycle (11:25pm - 1:05am), overcast skies

It's a little disturbing at how many dead or injured birds we've seen this year, including during our grunion watching. I'm guessing the dead black bird is a cormorant. There have been reports about dead birds on the beaches.

We went out earlier than requested at 11:05pm, because the night heron (we've started calling "him" Charlie) was already hunting on the berm the previous 2 grunion nights when we arrived. As expected, he was at his favorite hunting spot, about 20 yards from the pier and between the 6th and 7th parking meters from the bathroom. We saw our first grunions immediately from the pier before we could even get down to the beach. Unfortunately, Charlie flew off shortly after we got down to the beach; we wonder if he was already full or simply didn't want to deal with us chasing after him every time he caught a fish. There was also a pelican diving into the water throughout our time on the beach.

We counted 19 total grunion in 2s or 3s: 12 by us from 11:05-11:35pm; 4 by Diane a fellow grunion greeter and her MBA friend from 11:45pm-12:15am; and 3 by all of us at 12:20am.

Since this was the first time after the workshop night that fellow grunion greeters were at Del Monte Beach, we left Diane and her friend shortly after they arrived and headed down the beach together to the cement structure with hopes to find other grunion "hot spots." No such luck, but it was very peaceful and meditative. The city lights reflecting off the clouds made it easier to see compared to clear skies and a full moon. The no-flash pic above is brighter and more orange than it actually was.

Just like the previous time, it was challenging to take a picture of the skedaddling grunion. They're awfully quick!

grunion greeting, 2009 #3

black-crowned night heron, gull, grunion
new moon cycle (10:35pm - 12:35am), overcast skies

Our friend the night heron was already out hunting when we arrived at Del Monte Beach. I still couldn't get close enough to take a good picture of him. He seemed to prefer hunting about 20 yards away from the pier.

We also saw an injured gull. Earlier that day at Del Monte Beach, there had been the 20th Anniversary Memorial Day Hoe Wa'a outrigger canoe races. I wonder if it somehow got injured during the festivities. There was also a couple who parked themselves with blankets and pillows not too far from the gull. They were grossly engaged in their own activities to not notice us running around taking pictures of birds and fish. Apparently, more than grunion like to "spawn" on the beach.

We were so excited! We saw our first live grunion, 12 total, in pairs with the females already in the sand by the time the waves receded. I was surprised at how quickly the grunion skedaddled back to the water. In order to take the picture above, I blocked the female's way with my boots... maybe not entirely kosher.

The night heron ate 4 of the grunion we counted. In fact, that's how we knew where to look. As soon as he started eating we would run over to check. He would immediately fly to a nearby tree and would return when we walked away from his favorite hunting spot. We left the beach about 15 minutes after the night heron flew away for good.