14: Shorebirds

Dear Friend,

We hope that you and yours have had some really-good-memory-making experiences in the past couple of weeks!

I am dog-sitting away from Frank and will rejoin him in a bit. We didn’t want to skip posting another Tracks, so he emailed me these beautiful photos, taken just a few days ago. Thanks, Frank!

You will probably recognize these shorebirds along with some seabirds and other friends, as Frank captured all of the birds that he saw along the coast during that photography session.

The presence of shorebirds along any waterway is a sign that the environment is healthy. Shorebirds are carnivorous. They eat worms, tadpoles, crabs, mollusks, little fish, pretty much anything that might be edible.

 (This is one of the reasons our garbage should not be left for wildlife to get tangled-up-in or ingest).  

Because what goes in must come out, the droppings of shorebirds and other creatures along the waterways enrich the soil and shallow waters, giving nourishment to phytoplankton, which is devoured by zooplankton, a source of food for baby fish, crabs, shrimp, etc… which are eaten by larger creatures such as bigger fish, otters, seals and sea lions etc… and these creatures leave their droppings that nourish the phytoplankton and round it goes - a balanced, healthy environment for everyone.

Plankton is super important to every Earthling’s survival. Here is a YouTube video that explains 5 Reasons to Thank Plankton (Link follows this blog/letter).

Shorebirds (also called, ‘waders’) lay their eggs in a small divot that they burrow directly into the shore, in sand, dirt, grasses, whatever is there. They might ring the divot with small sticks, leaves, feathers, whatever they can find, but they don’t ‘build’ a nest. Their eggs are camouflaged, spotted with earthy tones that match the environment, making them very difficult to see and easy to accidentally trample.

Shorebird parents sit on the eggs unless disturbed by predators. They will feign an injury to draw predators away from their nest. The chicks’ feathers are also camouflage, you might not see the chicks but your dog will smell them. Shorebirds have a heck of a time finding safe places to hunt, nest, and live. (All good reasons for us to stay out of nesting areas and to keep our dogs on leash).

The wild is such a fragile balance, continuously fighting to thrive. We are incredibly thankful that these creatures don’t give up! What a motivating truth to ponder.

Shorebirds are found on nearly every shoreline along nearly every waterway in the world. As far as I know, they don’t really pay attention to human-signage. What are your thoughts on how can we help to keep these shorelines safe for the wilds to thrive?

Speaking of keeping things wild, remember the little opossum I shared about in our last blog post? Well, I heard back from the Monterey SPCA Wildlife Rescue people about little ‘Billy’ opossum. Here is what they said:

Hi Leslie, thank you so much for checking in on the baby opossum you brought us on April 18th. That opossum is doing great, and is currently in a group of other opossums of similar size who are just waiting to get a little bigger before being released. For future reference, this opossum's intake number is 26-676, in case you want to check in on it again in the future.

Thank you so much for bringing us the opossum and for checking in on how it's doing!

We are so glad to know that the little opossum is safe, healthy, and among friends thanks to the caring people at the Monterey SPCA!

And we thank You so much for being here to read Tracks by the Post! We’re grateful to know that you’re checking in with us and we join you in sending continued positivity to people and other-beings that are suffering anywhere and in any way.

Thank you for sharing Tracks by the Post with friends and family. We aren’t rewarded monetarily or by social-media, it is simply that we believe in the power of positivity (yours and ours, combined) and we love to share the beauty on this earth for goodness sake!  

Please write to us if you’d like, tell us about your week, what you think of keeping the shores wild… we always enjoy hearing from you!

Wishing you and yours a whole bunch of Happy Memory Makings this week. I hope to remember to write more about memory next week. (smile)

Gently Be,

Leslie and Frank

Here is the link to the YouTube video I mentioned:

5 Reasons to Thank Plankton