For a time, I remember asking potential employees what kind of animal they wanted to be and why? I guess it was supposed to provide insight into a person’s personality traits but I always found it kind of funny to watch people’s reaction to the question and their often circuitous route to an appropriate response. I always knew what my answer would be…an eagle…for obvious reasons. So, I think it is kind of ironic that I am living next to an island where nesting eagles return to the same nest every year to raise their young. The tree with their enormous nest is the tallest one on the island I kayak around so they literally have a “bird’s eye” view of their surroundings. One parent consistently perches on the same tree branch scanning the area while the enormous juvenile eaglet frolics on the rocks below. As I glide by in my kayak he/she calmly and curiously observes me from the shore as the parent above follows my path with their eagle eyes. I don’t want to end up getting wet so don’t tempt fate by getting too close. I read that fledgling eagles take off when the mood suits them, wandering around for a few years before they settle on a migration path and home base. The adults being more practical commence their group migration as the water around them freezes and head for open water further south. Wind currents play a large role in their flight pattern as they catch thermals allowing them to glide for long distances at some 30mph. Sounds delightful! I guess they are in no hurry traveling south but do tend to speed things up a bit in the spring as they ready for nesting. If interested, you can view an eagle’s nesting/hatching process via UTube.
The prehistoric looking American White Pelican at the lake used to give me an eerie feeling of faraway places and unknown times. They are some of the largest birds in the world and their wingspan can be up to nine feet tip to tip. Upon observation from my kayak, over time, I have warmed to them. They hang out in large groups or colonies and spend a lot of time lounging around in shallow water and on rocks grooming themselves. I can only get about 20 feet from them before they slowly swim off into deeper water. Multiple pelicans often circle around fish driving them toward shore where they are easier to catch or scoop up with their mammoth bills or pouches. They are fun to watch soaring by in the sky and make quite the splash landing. As they gracefully float by at dawn and dusk, seemingly without a care in the world, they almost seem “regal” to me. Pairs nest adjacent to each other in protected colonies, lay an average of two eggs in ground nests but the young have a high mortality rate. Once they leave the nest, they gather in crèches where they are feed by their parents until they leave the colony at 10-11 weeks. I have yet to see or identify a juvenile group but I will keep looking.
Pelicans are often surrounded by Double-crested cormorants with which they have a symbiotic hunting relationship. They are black matte in color with long kinked necks and hooked bills. They too are a bit prehistoric looking and often described as a cross between a goose and a loon. They are expert divers and are often seen with their wings spread out to dry when not sitting on branches of dead trees looking out on the water for fish. Pelicans and cormorants school fish together with the pelicans harvesting those on the surface and the cormorants diving deep for their prey. I guess the fisherman don’t like the cormorants as they eat too many fish but a bird has to do what a bird has to do to survive and thrive when “coming home” to Big Stone Lake. 2017