Life at Boomer Lake with Deb, Sunday September 23, 2012

The American White Pelican arrived this past Sunday, rested for the rest of his journey and was gone by Wednesday morning of this week. It was a wonderful visit, allowing for several photo opportunities and showed what it was like to see communal birds in action. The pelicans managed to chase away the Great White Egret more than once, so they held their entertainment value. These are some of the most amusing photos that I was able to obtain during fog and cloudy days, so I think they are passable. Some of the expressions that these pelicans have made me smile to myself several times while I was out watching them in a natural blind.

The American Coots have been building up their forces, too, also having returned this past Sunday, and now there are about forty of them. They all stick close together as a flock. Here’s a photo of how they tend to run on the water before they fly off, which I have been trying to obtain for a while. It’s nice to see them and I know that they have their young with them, but due to the amount of time, it is almost impossible to tell them apart. A few of them are just a little smaller, but that’s about the only difference.

The Glossy Ibis came to visit on Tuesday, closer to the shore than any other day, so I happened to be in the right place at the proverbial right time, once again. When the sun shines on this bird, it shows beautiful green and red-purple highlights. Too bad I wasn’t really able to show that in a photo, but here are a few interesting poses that this unusual bird provided. By the way, this is an east coast bird.

The Forster’s Tern and Bonaparte’s Gull were closely associating with the pelicans in a very shallow, rocky outcropping. The only reason that this area looks natural is just the fact that it hasn’t rained for quite some time. These birds are still around, enjoying the wonderful fish that the lake has to provide. Unless it gets colder rather quickly, these birds should be around a little longer.

Butterflies are still in the area, even though the weather is cooling down quite a bit this week. There are still a good group of yellow sulfurs and monarchs. The fall trees are flowering, the summer trees have been losing their leaves for quite a while, and are soon to go dormant for their wintry rest. It is hard to believe that it is nearly October and the frost will be on the pumpkin soon enough. It is almost time for hayrides, and the oak trees will be changing the color of their leaves. I also enjoy the autumn and look forward to this time of year.

As a matter of fact, I noticed that pumpkins are now for sale in the grocery stores. That is going to soon entice me to bake some pumpkin with those wonderful, aromatic spices that remind me about this wonderful time of year.

As I now sign off, keep your eyes to the ground and your head in the clouds. Happy birding until next week and enjoy your autumn months.