Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Malibu Egrets Again...

In my last post I wrote about how I went again to the Malibu Country Mart to check out the Great Egret's nests there, but I concentrated on the visiting Great Blue Heron. This time I'm going to be obsessive again about the Egrets- they so enchant me with every movement and every display of their fantastic plumage.

However, I am going to start with some close-ups of the Ficus tree they are nesting in. While I was awaiting some action from the birds I was transfixed by the shapes of the trees' limbs- or rather, by the beautiful blue sky shapes between the limbs:





And now for some Egret obsession:








That day there was little sign of the three sitting birds' partners, but here are a couple of shots of one who came for a fleeting visit:




Again referring to my last post, I wrote about the sea mist that suddenly engulfed the area and how I decided to leave the Egrets and visit the Pelicans on the Malibu Lagoon, on other side of PCH. So here are some of the slightly sinister misty Pelicans:





When I first wrote of the Egrets, I mentioned how they were nesting in a very heavily pruned Ficus tree. Although it was to MY advantage, giving me clear views of the birds, it certainly does not help them- leaving them very vulnerable to predators and making it difficult for other smaller birds to find anywhere to nest. While I was waiting for movement from the Egrets (for long periods all you see is three white lumps on the three nests!) I was very shocked to see the drastic over-pruning on other trees in the Mart, which were totally bereft of any foliage, in the Spring nesting season of all times. Apart from the environmental problems this causes, what is the point of it? The trees' branches are not interfering with shoppers and in fact it has been proved by research by Kathleen Wolf in Washington University that shoppers prefer shady environments and will travel further and pay higher prices to shop there...

Here are some of the criminally treated trees:


Eucalyptus and Coral Trees


Eucalyptus Tree


London Plane Tree

1 comment:

Stone Art's Blog said...

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