News from Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve
Here are the totals for our big storm February 26 – March 2. The elevation gradient is always so interesting.
Rain Totals and Maximum Wind Gust :
Gatehouse 3.75″ , 45 mph
Whale Point 4″ , 51 mph
Highlands Peak 6.6″ , 70 mph
Mining Ridge 15.2″ , no wind data
You can explore the data at: http://bigcreek.ucnrs.org/weather/
This is day three of having pelicans circling over the mouth of Big Creek and resting on the beach. Two days ago I counted about 53 pelicans. This morning, there were at least 120. The were flying up the canyon, landing in the bushes, in the road and in the ceonothus. They were landing in the creek and floating down to the beach. Some were getting hung up in branches. One bird has gotten tangled up in some willows and drowned. However, apart from one bird with a skin injury and the one that was tangled, the birds seem to be resting comfortably. I can’t determine from a distance if they are weak or starving.
Below are some links that discuss what might be going on. Explanations range from crowded southern breeding sites, to following northerly El Nino-driven food sources, to being oiled by coastal runoff pollution and soaked by the multiple storms over the past week.
International Bird Rescue Research Center has an article about pelican troubles with specific attention paid to greasy coastal runoff affecting their feather insulation.
An article about pelicans being in Oregon, late for this time of year.
Wildlife Rescue, a non-profit dedicated to rescuing troubled wildlife. Search for their pelican entries
The past year we have seen many gulls using the beach to rest and bathe in the freshwater of Big Creek. It is nice to know that they trust this beach to be quiet and not impacted by much activity. Sometimes there are 100-200 gulls at a time. They leave a lot of evidence of their presence as well. The past week and a half we have been experiencing rather strong winter storms. We had three days in a row of large ocean swells and 55 mph maximum wind gusts at Whale Point. It has been remarkable to see the cormorants and sea otters foraging in the surf zone nevertheless.
But today I saw pelicans circling over the Gatehouse and swooping down over the beach road and the creek mouth. One even landed next to the outhouse at the parking lot. This is very unusual! I walked down to the beach to see what was going on and found greater than 50 pelicans and about 300 gulls sitting on the beach and bathing in the creek. One pelican was even drifting down the creek from the big pool out to the far side of the beach. The flock consisted mostly breeding adults with a few younger and even less juveniles. They were resting, sleeping, bathing and drinking. I suppose it has been difficult to forage in such stormy conditions. Perhaps they are just exhausted…
I looked at the blog record for storms of 2009 and found the “first big storm of 2009” entry. During that storm in February, the creek went from 1.8′ to 2.8′ with just 2-3 inches of rain. We got 9 inches that month at the Highlands Peak weather station.
Well, on October 13 alone, we recieved 9.6 inches at Highlands Peak and 5.3 at Whale Point. The NOAA rain gauge on Mining Ridge reported 22 inches fell from 3am the 13th to 7pm the 14th. This seems outrageous but no word yet if that was inaccurate. The level of the gauge pool at Big Creek went from 1.4′ to 5.5′. Big Creek was dark chocolate color while Devil’s Creek was milky brown. All over the banks of the creek was foamy bubbles. Here is a profile of the creek level over four days spanning the storm.
This storm originated as a cyclone off the southern tip of Japan and made it’s way across the Pacific to hit the California coast. The temperature during the storm was about 58 degrees F and even went up to 62 just after the rain stopped. The maximum wind gust at Whale Point was 46 mph and at Highlands Peak was 62 mph. The top of one of the cypress trees at the Gatehouse broke off. It was impressive to see that any of the alders and willows even had leaves at all afterwards.
Here’s a picture of the beach at 7am on the morning of the 14th.
The weather on the 14-15th was sunny and humid. There was a swarm of termites hatching everywhere. The phoebes, bluebirds and bats had their fill.
Here’s what the creek looks like after a week of off and on rain plus three solid days of heavier rain in the Big Creek watershed. The creek height was 1.78′ at the guage pool on 2/14, 1.98′ 2/15 at noon then 2.2′ at 5pm on the 15th. After a whole night of wind and rain the gauge pool was at 2.9′ 8am the 16th. Here are some pictures of the muddy flood. Go to http://ucreserve.ucsc.edu/bigcreek/weather/ to see our weather data. The wind had been gusting around 50 mph for two days. By the middle of the 17th the creek as starting to clear a bit and by the end of the 18th I could at least see the bottom again and the gauge was reading 2.6 feet. We got a total of 4.2 inches between Feb. 12 and Feb. 18.
Big Creek at the confluence 2/16
Big Creek at the old gate on the interpretive trail 2/16
Devils Creek above the bridge to Redwood Camp 2/16
