Blue footed Booby Alert

Juvenile boobies are coming much further north than usual, and have wowed the Birders converging on Watsonville for their annual festival. Local press said that one was seen romping with brown pelicans near Black Point. Now that Schwan Lake is getting clogged with green duck weed, will they land there?

Leaning Tree Vanishes

Getting up close to the pinkish foliage

Sadly, Ninth Avenue has lost one of its wonders.  Some random road crew chopped down our gorgeous leaning conifer, with its distinctive pink-tinged needles, and has already ground its stump down to the roots!  Its ghost still appears on Googlemaps (check out the screen grabs pictured below).  Rumour has it that the County Works Department ordered the tree removed, although apparently no permit was issued.  Who is the real culprit behind this hatchet job??  Saddened neighbors placed a ring of yellow daisies on top of the spot it once occupied.

It's possible that this old tree was declared "badly out of balance", and then the buzz saws set to work.
Here's the regulation http://www.dpw.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/mtce.htm#Tree%20Removal%20Policy
However, it also appears that this beloved tree, which measured more than five feet around in circumferance, should have been protected as "significant" -  with a status similar to a "heritage tree" in the City of Santa Cruz. (http://www.codepublishing.com/ca/santacruzcounty/html/santacruzcounty16/SantaCruzCounty1634.html#16.34.030.  What's more, it was a "locally unique" species in a scenic area adjacent to a state park.  See the regulation. http://www.codepublishing.com/ca/santacruzcounty/html/SantaCruzCounty16/SantaCruzCounty1632.html#16.32/

Heading beachward, even the garbage trucks could fit underneath this fine old tree!

view from the other side; now all we see is a hideous tangle of wires

Cormorants at Schwan Lake

Mating definitely is underway and the local rookeries are noisy ! Already, the guano is copious.