Mangrove Eco Park Blog 1/21/23

 

I arrived at the Mangrove Eco Park in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, about a half-hour away from my house with my parents and my sister at 9:20 A.M. on Saturday, January 21st, 2023.  I was uncertain about what to expect in terms of people showing up for a bird talk I was going to give to people who wanted to just look at the mangroves. Most of the people that would show up had no idea that there were any birds to see. The temperature was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and there were scattered puffy clouds. There was a slight breeze, which made it almost the perfect temperature to be outside. Not only was the temperature perfect, but we also scheduled the bird walk for low tide, when the birds are closest to the viewing platform.

 The first people that came were two very nice Filipino people. They took a few pictures and selfies and were about to leave when I asked them if they wanted to look through the Spotting scope we brought at the flamingos. They were surprised that there were birds and were very interested when they noticed that the Flamingos were white, not pink. The reason the Flamingos are white, not pink is because there is a bacteria that Brine shrimp eat, and that makes the shrimp pink. If the brine shrimp don't eat that bacteria, they stay white. And if the brine shrimp are not pink, the flamingos don't turn pink when they eat the brine shrimp. We spotted another clump of birds that were a lot closer than the flamingos out on the sandbar, only about 200 ft away. However, the birds we just spotted did not have the same long legs and long necks as Flamingos. These birds were Eurasian Spoonbills.  Their bills are shaped like spoons, and the bills are black, not yellow like the African Spoonbill.  After Cherry and her husband left, someone I know from school arrived with their family and her grandpa. 

One of my classmates and her family, from Pakistan, also showed up after Cherry and her husband left. My classmate’s little sister could not see through the scope because you have to close one eye and position your eye perfectly against the scope. When she finally saw the flamingos, she yelled, “ I see them! I see them!” The girl was so happy, and it made me happy to see someone who was only 9 or 10 so interested in birds. The girl’s grandpa also looked through the scope, and when he saw the flamingos, he was also very excited. 

After everyone left, we decided to head back to the main building, but I had really enjoyed teaching people from different countries and local people about birds. Several people said they had been to the Mangrove Eco Park before but had never noticed the birds until now. In total, 18 people showed up, giving me lots to write about for the Community Leadership module in the Young Birder Of The Year contest.

Eagle Watching In The Skagit River December 2022

 I woke up very excited on the morning of December 22, 2022, because we were going to drive to Marblemount, WA, and float down the Skagit River in a small boat looking for Bald Eagles. It was about a two-hour drive to Concrete, where we then rode in a van with the guide to get to the boat. The boat that was waiting for us was called the “Raptor”. As soon as we got into the flow of the Skagit, I spotted five herons on the far bank all looking for fish in the freezing waters of the river. I snapped a couple of shots of the herons, but they were all blurry because of the heat waves coming from the heaters by my feet. After the first set of rapids right after the herons, we noticed seven Common Mergansers swimming near the bank of the Skagit. Above us, I heard the screech of a hunting Bald Eagle and soon saw it dive toward the terrified Mergansers. I was hoping to get a really good action shot of the eagle diving toward the mergansers, but the eagle never got close to a merganser. After that exciting encounter, I didn't see many other eagles or other birds, until we got to a small run-off river teeming with fish. There were at least thirty eagles in a single tree, with several more trees filled with eagles. The trees were filled with mostly Juveniles, with a few adults mixed in. After getting some good shots of the eagles, we continued past the river towards the boat launch where we would head back to our car. In a tree with orange leaves on it, I saw a large adult Bald Eagle obscured by branches. As we floated behind the eagle, I snapped as many shots as possible while the adult eagle was not obscured by branches. That was the last Eagle we saw for that trip, but it made me want to go again and capture some shots of more Bald Eagles hunting on the Skagit River.