By November 15th instead of none or two, four or six brown pelicans at the Berkeley lagoon, there are as many as 35 counting the enormous fledglings among them. There are nearly as many cormorants with adolescents. Now flocks of snowy egrets arrive with their teenagers.
Snowy Egrets, Brown Pelicans and Cormorants ~ Suddenly Everywhere
They’re at the boathouse.
They are along the shoreline. At peak, there are nearly a hundred egrets, pelicans and cormorants.
For a couple days in the 9 a.m mornings, as if on signal, the egrets gather into a group by the mud mound. An adult at he rear of the group squawks at late arrivals and at stray youngsters and herds them into a loose standing formation until they all face the water.
The egrets stand, wait, watch. One becomes distracted, another grabs a fish. Soon they all stand, wait, watch the lagoon. This is the same spot the October egrets performed their gymnastic fishing, each in turn flying the loop. This is evidently a different group. Many youngsters.
In the beginning for two weeks the three species visit with each other, hanging out, barging into each others’ activities, engaging in play, moving around the lagoon in various combinations of two and three species.
Snowy Egrets do a fly-over on the pelicans.
A Brown Pelican returns the favor.
Fishing happens, but it appears playful and secondary to what looks like an extended-family reunion among these waterbirds and waders. Much revolves around adults instigating fun as the curious young find friends and play well with others. There are moments of profound group contentment, as birds rest, drift and glide in dream-like calm.
On the 26th, pelicans, cormorants and snowy egrets come together in an event that resembles a procession out of a carnival. What! Does nature have Fellini-esque gatherings?
The menagerie wades, swims, flies, dives and moves together in a caravan often two abreast with clusters of pelicans in the middle. Leading the caravan are a pair of cormorants, other cormorants hide among the clustered pelicans and others swim and watch along the sides.
Zoom-in. Cormorants woven in among the pelicans.
A few egrets fly overhead like white banners in the wind. The larger group of egrets runs and hops in short flights along the shallows, skimming along the water with the caravan.
As suddenly as they arrived, as if dropped in from the moon, just as suddenly after two weeks of festive social build-up to the carnival and goodbyes on the next day, they are gone.
Solo cormorant
The lagoon’s resident great egret will likely soon return and a resident snowy, as they together as in past years, watch the water and hunt. But now everything is quiet.
A few days later a snowy egret has returned, as we approach Christmas and a very New Year. It greets us, everyday for a week. The lagoon amazes.
