Malibu: Communal Nesting in Ficus Trees

In my last post I wrote about the shocking rape of the Malibu Lagoon.  One of my fears has been for the affects on the wonderful members of the Heron family who nest in the two Ficus trees in the car park at Malibu Country Mart.  These are:  the Great Blue Heron, the Black Crowned Night Heron, the Great Egret and the Snowy Egret. When the de-watering takes place, where will they fish for their youngsters?  And if the Lagoon becomes a salt lake instead of a fresh-water wetland where nearby will they find food?

I wrote extensively about these birds in 2010.  I find the set-up totally delightful on two counts: first, that  these four varieties of Herons share their tenement-like habitat and secondly that they nest in the heart of this up-market shopping centre, disregarding the expensive cars parked by unsuspecting clientele beneath the trees...As one shopper said to me, it was great that these birds could nest there for free, when real  estate costs were astronomic! 

From the Pacific Coast Highway, you can see the trees;  I always anxiously look to see if the birds are there.  Below, you can just discern the white shapes of Egrets on the larger of the trees:   

When I first returned to the site early this year, there was the Great Blue Heron staking his claim on top of the large tree.  In 2010 he was a constant visitor but did not nest there- or not when I was in the country.  An advantage I had that year was that the host tree had been heavily over-pruned- something I disapprove of, but in this case giving me fairly clear views of both the Great Egrets and their nests.  This year, however the tree had been treated with more respect, meaning I could really only see the birds when they were on top of the canopy:

Here are the two Ficus':  Previously, I had only seen the Great Egrets nesting in the larger of the trees to the left:

This year, a swarm of Snowy Egrets made their home in the smaller tree.  Below, you can just see one of them: 

 I have always loved the animal-like trunk of this ficus:

The amount of birds in the trees has been phenomenal- many Great Egrets plus a pair of Great Blue Herons nesting in the big tree and countless Snowy Egrets in the little one, and all with chicks.  The noise can be deafening.  When I was taking photos, a regular question from shoppers  was: "Are there monkey's up there?". 

Below is what I describe as the large tree:

And here are a couple of the Great Egret's nests- bundles of sticks:

Here, one of them is about to do some nest repair work with a twig:

And here below is one of the Black Crowned Night Herons about to do something similar with his twig in the smaller tree.  In past years they have nested in a nearby Coral tree but this year I kept seeing them in this tree so suspected they were nesting there, but the foliage was too thick to check.

Here is a nest of some of the noisy Great Egret chicks:

And off flies the parent bird...

As I have said, the birds were mostly in evidence on the top of the trees.  Watching out for them was like anticipating a fantastic puppet show- you never knew whose head was going to pop up next...
Here, a Great Blue Heron keeps an eye on one of the Egrets:

 

Sometimes, the light was so bright that I could not clearly see what was happening as heads rapidly bobbed up and down and it was only when I downloaded the images that I realized how many heads there actually were: 

I find it fascinating how similar the Great Blue Herons and the Great Egrets are, especially in their neck movements:

I am totally obsessed by these birds and just love watching their interactions- I find it as absorbing as any theatrical performance...

One of the funny things is how ungainly these large birds are in the tree tops as they flop about from one too slender branch to another...

Here one of the parent birds takes off:

When I was involved with a nest of our British Grey Herons a couple of years ago, I was fascinated to watch the squabbling among the young siblings, who often were really vicious to each other.  Similarly, these young Great Egrets had great, noisy battles when a parent bird came with food:

And similarly the Great Blue Herons were constantly breaking out in fights both with each other and with intruders who came too close:

On the other hand, this Great Blue Heron seemed quite happy to let this immature young Night Heron sit nearby:

There were at least two young Night Herons flying from tree to tree, and here is one of them:

I find the parent Black Crowned Night Herons a delight:

I realize I have here rather ignored the pretty little Snowy Egrets, who were always frantically busy in their tree, but I'm afraid it was their larger relations who took my attention over these last weeks.  My final images are of Great Egrets in one of the two trees alongside the Ficus', which I believe are Norfolk Island Pines (Araucaria heterophylla):

Their cones reminded me of those on a Bunya-Bunya tree which are spectacular and can be massive!

This Egret was perched on the very top of the tree, reminding me of a Christmas tree Angel!

And then he flew away..

April in England

"O to be in England now that April's here...": hackneyed as that line of Browning's is, there's nothing as emotional, nostalgic and exquisite as an English Spring and I was so happy to be back here from Los Angeles in time for it. Here is a glimpse of April in Ilford, divided in two parts between trees and birds:

Part 1: Spring Trees

Yes, ideally in April I would like to be wandering round country woodlands- sprinkled with Wind Flowers and Violets- but here I was in Ilford and, as always, found Valentines Park totally rewarding. The trees had that lovely, delicate early haze of buds that I find so entrancing:





Because we had that unusually hot weather at the beginning of April, the leaves shot out really quickly, each day showing more solid foliage. You will notice the difference in the same trees in the next two photos. Incidentally, the Oak tree to the left of the image is fulfilling the prophesy "The oak before the ash and we shall have a splash" (you'll have to believe me- without the proof of a photo of an ash!) as we certainly have only had a splash so far, which is causing endless problems:



The leaves on this Copper Beech are growing fast:



And here you see them again behind a warty Plane tree:


I am always excited to find Oak Apples, and thought this one was exceptionally apple-like...



And here are some oak catkins, the flowers that prelude the Acorns:


These catkins- in the next two photos- are those of a Hornbeam:



And these are the fresh lime-green leaves of a Lime tree:


Now we come to a favourite of mine, the Horse Chestnut,or Conker- first, the flower buds just forming and the leaves unfurling:


followed by the full array of "candles":


I have never thought the Red Horse Chestnuts were in the same league as the white flowered ones: the leaves are crinkly without the delightful lines and the flowers do not have the same elegance. That said, they are a great colour!


I am equally snobby about the difference between wild Cherry blossom- Gean blossom- and the double cultivated species. The Gean is so fragile and innocent:



But pink Cherry blossom against a blue sky is always seductive:


These pink petals among the daisies are from another Cherry tree:


Part 2: April Birds

One thing I get homesick for when in Southern California, is our British Songbirds, in particular the VERY familiar Robin and Blackbird. Now, neither bird can really be called an"April" bird: they are both residents and the robin sings its fresh, charming little song all year round whereas the blackbird stops singing for the Winter starting its unbelievably melodic song again in February. Regardless of this, I am including them here because when I returned in April I became obsessed to photograph these two birds while singing. Of course, they immediately became elusive, both skulking in dark Holly bushes in the park whenever they sang. My Blackbird would not move out of the Holly, but eventually I caught a Robin in a Willow tree...:




Another evocative Spring sound is the drumming of a Greater Spotted Woodpecker (also, of course, the "laugh" of the Green Woodpecker):


Now, followers of this blog may remember how last year I became totally obsessed with the three chicks in a Heron's nest in Ilford's Valentines Park, this being the first time herons had nested in the London Borough of Redbridge for over a hundred years. Their nest was built on the shore of an island in a decayed sycamore tree which finally- after the chicks had fledged- fell into the lake. It had been a wonderful location for observation. Well, I soon learned that in my absence the heron's had returned, this time building their nest high up in a Pine tree on the mainland shore. Unfortunately, this time visibility was NOT good, the three new chicks being obscured by branches. When I got back to Ilford they were already very mature and nearly ready to fledge- here is one of them:


The Mute Swans in Valentines Park were again nesting on their island, but these two are actually nesting on an island in South Park, also in Ilford. As you can see- and as I was able to see when they performed a change over for their egg-warming shift- they had laid a good clutch of eggs:




Coots always amuse me with their rubbish-dump nests...


and their babies are both weird and adorable!



and what could be more adorable than this little Gosling?


Or this Mallard duckling?


Another success story: Last year, a pair of Egyptian Geese in Valentines Park twice successfully hatched a brood but twice sadly lost them- to Crows? However, this year all seems to be well: three hatched babes are growing fast and are hopefully now strong enough to resist predators:




As the next two images show, their plumage is now very similar to that of their parents:




Another bird that followers of this blog will recognize as being one of my obsessions is the Great Crested Grebe. I was thrilled to find three Grebes on the lake again and even more thrilled to see one pair doing their exotic, abandoned display dance:





Unfortunately, nothing seems to have come of it as yet... the stripey baby riding on its parent's back in this next image is on South Park lake:


I will conclude this Spring story with a Tree AND Bird photo: two daft Mallard drakes going for an Oak tree climb on the island of Valentines Park Fish Pond: