Did you ID this Yellow-crowned Night Heron? Good call.
In my last blog I said this Yellow-crowned Night Heron was soaking up the San Diego sun. Well. I was stretching the truth a little. Not to say lying. There wasn’t sun exactly. It was more like gray-bright...ish. So what was up with the cloudy day in San Diego? Well...believe it or not, it's normal for this time of year. Locals call it “June Gloom” or sometimes “No-sky July.” If it’s earlier then it’s “May Haze.” Later: “Fogust.”
It's caused when the marine layer (cloud cover) comes ashore. Which in turn is caused by a meteorological chain of conditions: low pressure in the northwest, westerly winds, cool water, something called the “Catalina Eddy” and warm air inland (as in desert warm). I won’t try to explain it further. That’s the best I can do.
Locals don’t always mind. They prefer it to the heat. But I feel bad for visitors. I see would be sunbathers wrapped up in everything they brought. I bet they didn’t see that part in the brochures. Temperatures are often mild, but it feels cold at the beach. And the water temperature doesn’t help. Only a few hardy souls venture into the water without a wetsuit.
A couple gray mornings ago I saw a dad and two kids trying to make the best of it. They pretty much had the beach to themselves. The clouds were dark. It was unusually cold. And windy. The dad was standing in the sand draped with umbrella, boogie boards, beach toys, towels, and chairs. But The kids were standing at the edge of the water in their suits. Their body language said, "Yeah...no. You first."
Even the heron in my photo seems to be second guessing himself. Notice he’s standing on one leg. They do that to stay warm. It keeps them from losing heat through the bare skin on their legs. And look closer (click to enlarge) to see his plumes blowing in the breeze. He has his back to the wind. I doubt he knew what he was in for any more than the tourists.
But don’t feel too sorry for the bird. When it comes to staying warm, he has one real big advantage over kids.
Feathers. :)
