My Saturday jaunt around the lakes turned out to be much more eventful than I had ever dreamed. I am used to seeing a few white dots far out on the lake as the Mute Swans are typically around, but as I came up to Lake Cherokee I could see an entire flock of white dots at the far North end. I diverted from my planned route and got to the opposite side of the lake where I discovered a huge flock of American White Pelicans!
The Pelicans were in there tight formation moving toward the reeds to trap prey to feast upon.
Once that supply was exhausted they floated away from the shore for a bit. A woman from the neighborhood had also noticed the activity and came out with a point and shoot and asked me about what they were and we chatted for a while. Then I headed closer to the lake to get shots of other species that had gathered to join in.
Beside the inlet pipe, a Snowy Egret waited for leftovers.
Nearby, a Wood Stork stood stoically with a feather stuck to its bill.
The American White Pelican suddenly changed direction and headed back toward my spot. I count just over 100 in this shot but I never got a full field view with the zoom lens.
Wading into the reads, a Great Egret watched for a chance to snatch a meal.
The Pelicans went from calm to frenzied as they rounded up the next school of fish.
The Mute Swan pair are usually kind of the bullies around the lakes but they knew to back off from this mob.
A Double-crested Cormorant soon surfaced from under the rush having grabbed a bite for itself.
Seeing the commotion around the corner, another American White Pelican flew in to join in on the feeding.
I started to scan the skies and more Pelicans were still coming in from distant locations.
One after another flew in and I could still see spots up in the air coming in from far away. The biggest flock we had last year was 16 that moved all around the city. This was group approaching 200!
Appearing sated for the moment, I decided to head to my other planned destinations but I couldn't resist one more shot back toward Orlando proper.
I circled Lake Davis and found it a bit more calm but still full of interesting birds. The usually fiesty Swan Geese were chilling under the shade.
A wary female Wood Duck decided I was safe enough to swim past toward the geese.
Convinced I was OK, too, the male Wood Duck soon followed. On another local lake there is a pair with several ducklings. So glad we have breeding Wood Ducks in the neighborhood. One of those birds I wanted to see as a kid and never thought I could almost trip over them in Orlando.
Tree Swallows were out feeding and, as usual, they are a challenge to photograph as they move so fast and bank and turn in a millisecond.
This is the only other shot of 40 that came out OK.
While I was shooting the swallows a male Blue-winged Teal floated by to head over to the shade.
Near the center of the lake, a few Bonaparte's Gulls loafed on the surface. Very few of the more typical Ring-billed Gulls. Nice to have these hanging around for a while.
Moving away to the other lakes I had a nice soaring Red-shouldered Hawk over Lake Emerald.
Behind Lake Weldona in the neighborhood was a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk perched on the corner.
I headed home and rounded Lake Cherokee again and found the American White Pelican flock feeding again.
I was ready to get back but got one more shot of the hungry birds still gorging. A nice mix of adults but mostly juveniles. FYI, the adults are the ones with the rounded bump on their bills.
A productive morning. Let's see how long these birds stick around this year.
