Back Bay and Backyard

On Wednesday, December 16, Sarah and I conducted an impoundment survey at Back Bay NWR as I do three times a month when I'm available. We had a good mix of waterfowl but no shorebirds and no herons besides Great Blue. The Tundra Swans shown here represent a pair of adults with two young and another pair with no young birds. While I was counting gulls on the flat in C Storage impoundment, a large bird flew in and landed beside the gulls; it was a young Northern Gannet. That was the first time ever that I had seen a gannet land in such a small piece of water.
Today a Brown Pelican landed in our cove back of the house and fed for a time with the ducks. Although pelicans have spent much time, usually in the late fall and winter, flying up and down the Lafayette River, they had yet to come into the cove....until today. The bird is an adult with faded plumage and looked very healthy and totally at ease with the Hooded Mergansers around which it fed. The hoodies didn't seem to mind either.