Field Note #13: severe weather

Date of Survey: 032516

Official Low Tide: 4:25 pm            Survey start time: 3:33 pm   Survey end time: 4:30 pm

Tide heights: -0.2ft/-6 cm

Mudflats exposed? y

Temperature: 84°F/ 29°C            Cloud cover: 90%

Severe thunderstorms in the immediate distance

Common Name	Counts of birds foraging on mud flats	Behavior Forage-F Rest/roost-R Fly over -FO	Disturbance (Flushing-F, displaced-D, agitated-A)	Feeding location *Primary flat (P)   Mangrove flat (M)
Snowy egret	1	F		M
Great blue heron	2	F		M
Little blue heron	1	F	D-1-H	P-1
white ibis	4	F, FO-1		M
Total	8

Notes: 6 fisherman, 2 kayakers fishing directly on exposed mudflats

Severe thunderstorms threatened us the entire survey. At 4pm we suspended the survey due to lightning, and sat in the car until 4:30 hoping to get back out there; but heavy rain set in and we had to leave. We did not take the camera due to the rain, so no photos of our own this week.

So here is this:

Distribution map of Little Blue Heron. Yellow: breeding, green: year-round, blue: nonbreeding. Adapted from: Kushlan, James A. and James A. Hancock, Herons, Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2005. (ISBN 9780198549819) (OCLC 54913407)

Since there was not much action today, I am suggesting some reading on Bird responses to human activity:

Wading Bird Response to Recreational Boat Traffic: Does Flushing Translate into Avoidance? Author(s): KIMBERLY A. PETERS and DAVID L. OTIS Source: Wildlife Society Bulletin, 34(5):1383-1391. Published By: The Wildlife Society

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2193/0091-7648(2006)34[1383:WBRTRB]2.0.CO;2 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.2193/0091-7648%282006%2934%5B1383%3AWBRTRB %5D2.0.CO%3B2