Bugs, birds and puffer fish offer fun dockside diversion

When I rent a slip for my sailboat, as I have been doing on and off in Mexico for the last two years, I don’t have to take the boat anywhere to have memorable wildlife experiences.

One morning last week, while drinking coffee in Honu’s cockpit in La Cruz de Juanacaxtle marina, I spotted a frigate bird carrying what appeared to be a baseball. The white sphere weighed heavy on the bird, pulling its beak downward, and as the all-black male seabird passed Honu’s stern, he dropped his burden.

The ball hit the water with a splash but did not sink. Rather, it came alive, splashing and spluttering as it motored around in circles like a bristly bathtub toy.

The "baseball" was a baby puffer fish, saved from a frigate bird’s gullet by puffing up with air and water after the bird snatched it from the surface. Inflation probably saved the frigate bird’s life, too. Puffer fish contain tetrodotoxin, one of the most deadly poisons in nature.

Not all my marina wildlife encounters were of the marine kind. One morning I watched an insect version of a Christmas parade. Across the entrance to the bathrooms marched thousands of ants, each holding high over its head either a red or green banner.

I followed the line, and at one end found a blooming hibiscus bush under siege, its leaves and flowers in shreds. At the other end of the ant procession was a hole in the ground. There, ants descended with their colorful crop while others shouldered their way out to harvest more goodies.

The ants were leafcutters, a family of tropical ants that harvest fresh leaves and flowers as nutrients for enormous underground fungus gardens. Leafcutters play a vital role in the health of their native ecosystems, but because they can destroy human gardens overnight, the spectacle did not last long. Fortunately, I got some photos before managers poisoned the ants and rescued the rest of the marina’s lovely landscape.

My other daily cockpit entertainment came from tree swallows, 5-inch-long insect-eaters that loved sitting on my mooring lines or swooping over the calm harbor surface in search of bugs. The musical chirps of these little pest controllers made every morning in the marina a cheery one.

Like me, some animals just love visiting marinas, and I love them for it.

I also love Oahu, the best place in the world to live. It’s great being home.

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Reach Susan Scott at www.susanscott.net.