cal, and spiritual health benefits

The Nesting Ground

The mating ritual of the California least terns is a comical process that incorporates the catch of the day The chicks double and triple in size within a few days of their birth

The Santa Clara River Estuary California least terns. was a graveyard of tattered There aren’t many places left along driftwood, tangled kelp balls, the California Coast where least terns a rotting sea lion carcass that was can nest without disturbance. Locating so putrid it could only attract a pair them isn’t easy either. Scanning with of turkey vultures. A high ceiling of my binoculars at a certain level was overcast kept the early morning commy best strategy. Standing on top of fortably cool. The sand was coarse and the berm was a mistake. Most anigritty, perfect for breeding and nesting mals, especially when they’re busy western snowy plovers and especially breeding, denning, nesting, and rearing young, don’t want to look up at a potential threat. They are easily spooked. Staying low is always the best option, but when it comes to least terns and a steep berm is involved, standing is simply fine. The berm at the Santa Clara River Estuary grows gradually. The best scanning placed me at the bottom of the berm, so I was head level where least terns sunned themselves and plovers scampered after beach hoppers. The birds remained comfortable Nesting is a period of relaxation, at least until it’s feeding time and they continued with their feeding, breeding ritual that involves the catch saw another chick ingest a fish that preening, breeding, tending to their of the day, if you’re a least tern, that it couldn’t swallow, and it walked unhatched eggs or hungry chicks. is. The male catches the small baitfish around with a portion of the fish California least terns are the smallest and brings it back to where hopefully sticking out of its beak for the entire terns in North America. In California at least one receptive female awaits. morning. they are listed as endangered due to The male will circle a potential mate I always knew when a parent the usual suspects, habitat degradaseveral times while holding the fish came to feed its chicks. It would be tion, disturbances by dogs and people, in his beak. If the female is receptive, calm with the chicks nestled in a so no big surprise there. she will take the fish and mating comnatural depression in the sand, but Mostly white with a black cap mences. Sometimes they mate while once a parent flew in with fish, the and a yellow beak, I typically heard the male still holds onto the slipchick’s demeanor changed immeditheir calls of kee-zink, kee-zink pery fish. Somehow the whole ritual ately. Their tiny wings were extended before spotting them, usually as they reminded me of a Seinfeld episode. It’s and their mouths were agape as they swooped along and hovered momenseveral weeks before the eggs hatch, stumbled across an obstacle course of tarily overhead. Without binoculars and once they do activity ramps up. windswept granules of coarse sand, it was almost impossible to track I kept relocating the same chicks cobble, decaying giant bladder kelp them. Once they landed in the sand and watched them double and triple and splintered driftwood, just to reach locating them became even more difin size as the days progressed. I was their attentive parents and their catch. ficult. So I did a lot of waiting and impressed. When even just a few days By August, most least terns begin watching. Seems like when I did that old, they can gulp down a whole fish. their return trip to South America, their and patience took over, things came At just a couple days old they are fall and winter stomping grounds. By together in some form. about the size of a 50-cent piece. The next spring, usually April, they come If parents weren’t busy trading out baitfish was longer than their minute back to various beaches in California, on incubating their eggs, then they bodies. Even at triple their own size the ones that may appear to be the least were focused on making the next least it was still a monumental effort for desirable, the beaches that appeared a terns. There’s a somewhat comical them to choke a whole one down. I little like they did 300 years ago. •MJ 40 MONTECITO JOURNAL “I don’t know what to say so I’ll just say what’s in my heart...badoom, badoom, badoom.” – Mel Brooks 6 – 13 August 2020