Ramble 1 – Black Crowned Night Heron Consorts with Ring-billed Gulls

A walk along Crab Cove and Neptune Point is the antidote to a copious Thanksgiving meal consumed with friends and family. (Before we arrived at the cove we agreed, “don’t talk turkey, the waterfowl may take exception.”)

Neptune Point, as many Alamedans know, was once the site of the Coney Island of the West. (Alameda Sun’s Dennis Evanosky and Eric Kos are great sources of history for this spot.) Too bad that, in mid-November, Neptune Point and Crab Cove Marine Preserve [my embedded links] seemed about to become the sites of a potential long-term legal battle between the City and East Bay Regional Park District. (That’s a Ramble for another day although, in the meantime, search for the backstory in the Alameda Sun.)

On this cloudy afternoon the tide was high but not high enough to submerge the line of rocks that form a roost and a sheltered feeding zone on the north side of the cove for gulls, cormorants, coots, Stilts, Willits, the occasional pelican, and flocks of other shore birds.

Sergei pointed out a Black Crowned Night Heron [my embedded links]. “We usually see him on the rip rap that forms the banks of the small bay around the corner. Wonder why he’s slumming with those Ring-billed Gulls  today? [my embedded links] 

“Indeed, they do seem déclassé for one of his plumage.”

“Maybe he’s running for City council?”

“…you mean, birds of a feather …and he’s looking for votes?”

“Someone ought to tell him the election is over.”

“Or is he proselytizing the flyway flock in preparation for the next election?”

“Starting a buzz…”

“…a Tweet…”
“… before the next migration so there’s something to Twitter about as they fly north to repeat the same-old, same-old: finding a mate, building a nest, feeding chicks, teaching ‘em to fly, eat, avoid predators…

…and, when they return, in time for the next election, that forward-thinking heron will have a big yellow leg up on his campaign…”
“...he'll rule the roost....”

“…be king of the perch…”

“Any creature capable of thinking that far ahead already has my vote. Residents in our town who could run successfully for city office appear to do so only at the last minute; strategic thinking is left to the birds – and the rest of us are left with crumbs….”

“…he figures after he’s elected he can return to his regular habitat; the gulls will never hear another cheep out of him…”

“No more seeing and being seen with that indiscriminate garbage-gobbling riff raff just to get a vote….”

“Nothing but the finest fishin’ for the heron-elect once he’s got the job.”

“I wonder where he stands on the issue decided by the last …nest …of council members who voted to auction Neptune Point off to yet another developer for yet another a song rather than let EBRPD purchase the land, expand their operations, and make Crab Cove a viable public space for The People?”

“Do ambitious herons figure that the whiff of garbage in the air that generally accompanies human habitation and is sure to accompany any residences, multi- or single-family, the City has planned for Neptune Point will get the seagull vote?”

“Or, perhaps he’s working for EBRPD to win its suit against the City to preserve his peace and quiet.”

“Amen to that.”

“Carry on there, Black Crowned Night Heron. If that's the case you can count on our vote. Let's keep Neptune Point, Crab Cove, and the surrounding bay for the birds, the fish, the small animals, and the people who love and depend upon it.”

Ah, Sergei and I must be genetically predisposed toward intrigue for, by the time, we’d strolled the Cove, appreciated the glorious bay, and presupposed the heron’s election strategy, we felt invigorated; our Thanksgiving meal was properly digested, too.

We walked home.

Our next Ramble explores one of Alameda’s many under-discovered one or two block streets.

Learn about the Neptune Point/City of Alameda law suit. Meanwhile, here are images of what will be affected by the final outcome: