Rising With The Tides

They say rising tides lift all boats. Around here they also flood many roads. 

This week we have our first fall coastal storm of the year. It isn't a tropical storm but that doesn't mean we aren't getting strong winds driving up the tides. These are the types of events where flood mapping is particularly important. For the past 9 years, as part of Wetland Watch's Catch the King Tide activity, I've been going out and mapping how far high tides come up onto the land. There are multiple scheduled events each year based on the lunar affect on the tides. But these ad hoc events for storms, or just steady on-shore winds, that drive up the water level are important to capture the weather’s effect on the tidal flooding. 

Today, high tide came just after sunrise so I got up, prepped, and headed out first thing. On my way to my usual first stop I passed this flooded marsh. It passes under the road but get up into people's yards about 100 yd from the creek bank. 

Tides from Sept 24. Data from https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/FTMV2#hg=official

Usually there is a narrow creek here and lots of marsh grass

Not the type of watering you want for your garden

 My usual first stop is a boat ramp near home. Even though the city recently redid the parking lot, the entrance was flooded. After finding a dry place to park, I walk along the edge of the water occasionally recording the precise location in an app. I can record a point without really breaking stride making data collection about as easy as taking a walk. And in many places, I can do it without even getting my feet wet. 

A Good Night and Good Night-Birds

This is the last post about our trip up to the Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB) festival. So I thought I would talk about good night-birds, and a good night birding,

One group of birds that I was not expecting to see much at the festival was birds of the night. [Also emus since they don't live anywhere near Ohio.] Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised that we ended up seeing 5 species of birds that are nocturnal.

One of the tours that we signed up for was a woodcock walk at dusk, so we were hopeful of seeing a woodcock. I've been out looking for woodcocks a few times in the past and never succeeded in seeing their aerial display.  I was prepared for us to either not see any birds or the display would be distant and infrequent.

Our woodcock group met up with a couple of guides shortly before sunset. One of the guides told us that the displays had been going on the last couple of nights so he had high hopes. The bird that had been displaying near our spot was showing up as the very last of rays of sunlight vanished. So we had time for the guide to regale us with his guiding stories. 

Water birds of the Biggest Week

Last time I talked about all the warblers we saw at The Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB) festival They truly are the highlights but there are many more birds migrating through the area during the festival. Today I’ll focus on the birds closely associated with water. Almost all of the festival locations are on or near the water. The festival headquarters is at Maumee Bay and the biggest draw is at Magee Marsh.

Shorebirds mainly nest in the Arctic tundra of Canada and Alaska so still have a long way to go after their stop in Ohio. They are in pursuit of the open habitat and lots and lots of insects the far north offers.

Black-necked stilt

One of the most striking shorebirds in the US is the black-necked stilt. Stilts take the shorebird characteristic of long legs to an extreme balancing a small body atop theirs giving the impression they might tip over at any time. Stilts also stand out for their coloration. Most of our shorebirds have a combination of sandy and rusty colored backs. The black-necked stilt has a striking black and white pattern. At one of the marshes we visited, there were a handful of stilts, each probing away in the mud and sand. They seem to have a knack for always being at the far side of any body of water. Luckily for me, this one moved in close to allow for some nice photographs. It was probably moving to the “far side” from a different group of birders.