Everywhere we went in Loreto, there were turkey vultures soaring or perched on the tall cacti or clustered on the tops of palm trees. The ground was not littered with carcasses for them to eat, and I was told that they generally make a living at the beaches, where lots of animals wash up (for whatever reason). Indeed, we saw picked-over carcasses of triggerfish and pufferfish, eared grebes, a heron, and some of our group found small manta rays on the strand.
On one beach walk, we saw a willet with a foot-long worm dangling limply from its bill. Willets are medium-sized shorebirds, very plain until they open their wings. This one walked to and fro with that big worm, sometimes dropping it, only to grab it again. This went on for many minutes. Every so often, the bird swallowed part or all of the worm, but every time, that worm was coughed up onto the pebbles and picked up once more. That made me wonder if the worm was somehow making itself unwelcome in the bird’s digestive tract.
[Winter in Baja offers change of scenery]
One day we hired a car and driver (an excellent guide) to go to the west side of the peninsula. The roads that go over the rugged mountains follow the most serpentine routes I’ve ever seen, snaking along steep hillsides and dipping into dry washes. Our goal was a visit to the gray whales that shelter in the lagoons on the Pacific coast. Although these whales are known to approach boats so closely that a person can reach out and pet them, on this day the whales were not in that mood. They were mostly out at the mouth of the lagoon, where they were cavorting and breaching. But we did see one mama with her calf — headed out to join the others.
Along the way, a big stand of mangroves was crowded with perched double-crested cormorants and frigate birds. Some of the cormorants had their two tufty crests erected, so we could readily see how they got their name. Occasional frigate birds soared high above on their angular wings, but we never saw them swoop on another bird that had a fish — frigates are kleptoparasites, making a lot of their living by stealing the prey of successful fisher-birds.
[Alaska taking shape near Yakutat]
The west side of the peninsula is much more agricultural than the east side, with cultivated fields and scattered farm animals making a living as best they can on the thorny, spikey, prickly flora. Here the crested caracaras are common. They are scavengers as well as predators: they clean up carrion and I bet they also take newborn baby farm animals (as they do in Chile, I know). They like to nest on high places above the scrubby vegetation and would use the powerline poles, but clever managers have erected special high towers away from the powerlines, and the caracaras like those even better. Ospreys share a liking for those high towers.
Other wildlife seen from the road included iguanas, perched on rocks and rock squirrels. These squirrels are big ground squirrels, with fur of variable shades of black, gray and brown. They are mainly herbivores, sometimes annoying people by chewing up a garden; I saw one with beet juice all over its face. They are reported to be polygamous and females can produce two litters a year. We saw them scuttling in and out of rock piles along the roadside.
A very special sighting was a great egret perched atop a giant cardón cactus. A perfect symbolic juxtaposition of desert and water.
[Wild Shots: Photos of Mother Nature in Alaska]
A little boat trip around an island near Loreto passed by a huge flotilla of eared grebes, a pinnacle loaded with blue-footed and brown boobies, and brought us to a haulout of California sea lions. They are known here, not as “lions” but as “wolves” (lobos marinos). The noise and the aromas emanating from them reminded us of our Steller sea lions. But in contrast to the Alaska sea lions, these big critters were utterly unconcerned by our proximity. In fact, it is a popular sport for visitors to swim among them.
On the other side of the island, we too hauled out — on a white sand beach made of crunched up coral, to which parrotfish had made a significant contribution when they nipped off and digested the coral animals and defecated white coral grains that washed up on shore. My friends and I perched at the upper edge of the beach and pulled out our lunches. Immediately, a pair of yellow-footed gulls claimed ownership, in hopes of getting their own lunch from our leftovers and offerings. They were successful, and any other gull that came near was fiercely driven off.
As we sat there, we noticed that some nearby intertidal rocks were crawling with hundreds of black crustaceans, two inches or less in size. We found out later that these are locally known as “cucarachas marinas” (marine cockroaches). I think they are probably isopods — but catching one for close inspection was a vain endeavor, because a pursued “cockroach” speedily scuttled under a rock.
[Salmon researchers: Small Juneau hatchery helps with big ideas]
Two species of small songbirds provided other treats for us. Vermilion flycatchers nest in tree forks and were common in some places. Males are very conspicuous, with their black wings set off against brilliant red plumage; in bright sunlight, the head feathers earn the bird its scientific name of “pyrocephalus” (“fire head”). Females are a streaky brown, except for the posterior underparts, which are typically orange-ish on adults. On younger females, these feathers are pale yellow, getting darker as the bird ages. We were told that females sometimes breed at a very early age, when they still have the bill characteristics of nestlings. Does that indicate a shortage of adult females in the population? Females of this species do all the incubation of eggs and brooding of chicks, while the male regularly feeds her on the nest.
The verdin is a tiny bird, roughly the size of a kinglet, sporting a bright yellow head on a gray body. Its nearest relative is thought to be a species that lives in Europe — an interesting distribution. Verdins build well-insulated spherical nests, with a side entrance near the bottom. We found a nest that was just a bit bigger than a tennis ball — this was presumably a roosting nest; verdins build many of these. Nests for eggs and chicks are bigger and bulkier. Nests are usually placed in the outer part of the canopy of shrubs, where the female tends the eggs and chicks, with help from the male as the chicks age. They feed chiefly on insects, but also sip nectar from flowers.
It was very refreshing to spend time in a place so different from Southeast, where almost everything was new to me. But it was also good to get home again.
• Mary F. Willson is a retired professor of ecology. “On The Trails” is a weekly column that appears every Friday. Her essays can be found online at onthetrailsjuneau.wordpress.com.
The vermilion flycatcher is common in the Loreto area; the showy red males are conspicuous in the shrubs. (Courtesy Photo | Bob Armstrong)
Common dolphins often forage in huge gangs for small fish, while pelicans and other birds attack the fish from the air. (Courtesy Photo | Bob Armstrong)
