Pelican-Duckling nightmare - Part 1

In a previous post, I alluded to American White Pelicans demonstrating some interesting/horrifying behavior. The sequence of photos below shows what happened on an otherwise calm afternoon at the local lake. Some images are upsetting, but everyone came out ok in the end.

It started when I saw a mother Muscovy Duck swimming with her ducklings. To my surprise, she came very close to several pelicans who were foraging in the same corner of the lake. In the photo below, you can see that one of the pelicans has noticed the ducks and is approaching from the upper right. 

Several observers watched in horror as the pelican tried to scoop up the ducklings with its huge bill.

Nooooo!

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And there was nothing I could do but shriek.

The ducklings panicked and huddled close together, but they couldn't swim away fast enough.

Meanwhile, Mom took refuge in some plants and watched the pelican try to snatch her kids. There wasn't really anything she could do to defend them.

Once one pelican finds something, all the others have to come check it out. 

At one point, the duckling tried to make an escape...

But it was quickly scooped up by another pelican. All together, there were about 20 pelicans in that area and they had the ducks cornered.

By this time, observers on the edge of the lake were screaming. Everyone had spent the last several weeks enjoying the pelicans and watching them calmly float around the lake. Now they appeared to be monsters.

Each pelican had its turn taking the duckling into its mouth.

Aaaaa!

We really thought we were witnessing a horrible death.

I can only imagine what was running through the duckling's mind at this moment.

Then, without warning, the pelicans just...stopped. The little duckling quickly paddled away to its family who were hiding in some vegetation.

What was interesting about this incident was the pelicans never tried to toss the duckling back down their throats. They kept it in the tips of their bills, which made me think they were more curious about the duckling and not into eating it. 

 

After that trauma, you would think the mother duck would lead all her ducklings away from the scary pelicans, but no! She kept hanging around close to them, so of course another pelican came along to check them out. 

Here we go again.

A cormorant came over to see what all the fuss was about.

Finally, mother duck took off with her brood. I kept trying to count them all to make sure she ended with the same number of ducklings she had in the first place. No one was missing.

People who saw this were shocked and shaken, but we were all glad (and puzzled) to see the pelicans let the duckling go free. I wondered why they didn't eat the baby duck. I mean, they could, so why not? A local birder speculated that it was unusually early for ducklings (February) and, as the pelicans usually migrate away from the lake at this time of year, it's possible they've never encountered the baby ducks in this location before and were just curious about them. I really don't know.

 

This turned out not to be an isolated event, as I saw it happen again a couple of days later. I'll post those photos when I'm done processing them.

 

 

Early-season birds

Here are a few highlights of early spring season birds seen along the East Coast.

Green Heron: 

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher:

Black-Necked Stilt:

Sitting on its nest:

Loggerhead Shrike:

Purple Martins:

Eastern Phoebe:

Great Egret:

Pileated Woodpecker:

Black-Bellied Plover:

Semipalmated Plover:

Sanderlings and a Dunlin:

Sanderling:

Willets:

Cattle Egret:

Black Skimmers:

Hooded Warbler:

Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks:

Quick Tompkins Square hawk update

The update is...there isn't much to say at this time about the Tompkins Square red-tailed hawks, which is a good thing. No drama is exactly what we want at this time as Amelia and Charlie brood their eggs.

It's a quiet time while Amelia spends most of her time in the nest, watching the trees bloom around her. On Monday, I caught her standing up preening. This is the best view I've had of her as she is mostly hidden when she's lying down. 

These photos were taken from a block away with a telephoto. In person, the nest is very hard to see, and once the tree is fully leafed, I don't know if there will be a view at all.

Activity should pick up in the next few weeks when the eggs hatch. We won't be able to see anything, but we'll know something has happened when Charlie starts delivering food to the nest.

 

Until then, here are some recent photos of the hawks spending time in and around the park.

 

Amelia: 

Charlie enjoys some dinner while Amelia stands by:

Amelia takes off:

Charlie, just after he caught a rat in one of the park gardens:

A view of his lovely tail:

It's hard to see, but the rat is in his left talon.

Charlie scopes out pigeons from a roof on Avenue A:

Taking off:

Amelia perches on the church cross on Avenue A & 10th Street:

I've said it many times, but I think Amelia is really a beautiful hawk. Fingers crossed these two have a successful breeding season.