A Friday and Saturday of successful birding was coming to a close but we had one trip around the ‘Brig’ left in the tank so, in we went. Shortly after entering the drive (after a quick stop at the Gull Pond tower) on the left in a big pool we saw a small bird swimming in small circles along its eastern edge 15-20 feet from the road. This was the bird we were looking for a previously reported Red-necked Phalarope. It is a pretty bird indeed and it posed for some nice pictures seen below. So that was a nice start to the drive and we continued around still not finding our Cattle Egret or a previously reported Avocet. 🙁 As we drove down the last straight away before the woods we saw a large white bird flying low over the road and then veering straight up and banking left. It was a big bird and was easily identifiable as an American White Pelican. He swooped over the island that the double-crested cormorants gather at in bunches and chased the entire lot. They took off and he swung around for one more look before flying out east towards the entrance to the nature drive. A red van/truck ahead of us spotted it too, and noted it in the log book as we did. What a great bird!
It was amusing to see the Cormorants scatter at the appearance of the Pelican as shown in the pictures below.
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