I was afraid the warm spell a few days ago meant the end of winter waterfowl, but the creek was busy today. At breakfast it was calm but later wind roughened the surface. Mid morning, a bufflehead drake escorted two females downstream. Around lunch time, I spotted two ruddy ducks, the first this winter. One ruffled its feathers oddly.
Then a pelican crashed into the water and the ducks disappeared. The pelican was an adult in breeding plumage. It turned in slow circles and then grabbed a huge fish. For some reason the bird then left the fish floating on the surface. A short while later a juvenile pelican spotted the fish and landed beside it. It got the fish into its pouch and seemed about to swallow. But the adult pelican returned and slammed into the juvenile's back, apparently dislodging the fish. The juvenile sulked at a distance while the adult seemed to meditate over the fish. Finally the adult got the fish mostly into its pouch and drifted behind a dock where I lost sight of it. The juvenile gave up hope and flew away.
A pine warbler came early again for suet. Four crows explored the patio. Turtles piled up on the lake, shells shiny in the sun. And egret stalked below the dam and later another rested on a dead limb above the turtles. A female hooded merganser fished near the returned ruddy ducks. Two more paddled past.
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