Category Archives: Nature Videos

Lakeside gaggle

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Last week when I took a walk at the lake, I found a picnic table near the park services office where I could sit and enjoy the morning.  Located near the shore, it provided me a good view of the surplus of waterfowl and other wildlife.  The moment I sat down, however, I was noticed by a gaggle of both Domestic swan geese (Anser cygnoides) and domestic greylag geese (Anser anser).  I assume they have grown accustomed to receiving food from people because they came right out of the water and headed in my direction.

Domestic swan geese (Anser cygnoides) and domestic greylag geese (Anser anser) approaching me from the shore (164_6433)

[also seen in the background of that picture are American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), American coots (Fulica americana), a double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), and ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis)]

I watched in amazement as they walked right up to and around the picnic table, foraging the whole way.  Their stroll was casual and unconcerned.  They did keep an eye on me, however, with regular and careful evaluations of my movements and position.  Because only a few of them intently watched me, I assume they were the leaders of the pack.  Or at least the most distrustful.

Domestic swan geese (Anser cygnoides) and domestic greylag geese (Anser anser) foraging as they come around the picnic table (164_6436)

They foraged about me as they came ever nearer.  Eventually, they came right up to the table while picking through the winter grass.

Domestic swan geese (Anser cygnoides) and domestic greylag geese (Anser anser) foraging nearby (164_6442)

Once they realized I had no food to offer, they promptly headed back to the water.  I almost felt as though they were disappointed that I sat there with no treats for them to consume.

Domestic swan geese (Anser cygnoides) and domestic greylag geese (Anser anser) heading back to the lake (164_6451)

As they entered the water amongst the coots with pelicans and gulls looking on, somehow I felt bad for not having something to offer.  My empty pockets and hands seemed almost like a betrayal of their need.  But I felt confident they wouldn’t starve despite my apparent lack of social graces.

Domestic swan geese (Anser cygnoides) and domestic greylag geese (Anser anser) entering the lake (164_6454)

I have three videos from the experience and am including them below the fold.

This first video is when they came around the table and approached me.  You can see they foraged the entire way.

This next one shows them when they came right up to the table where I was sitting.  In fact, the one you see nearest the camera was less than an arm’s length away from me.  I suspected it might peck at the camera while it was filming just to see if it was edible.  By the way, that’s a park services truck driving by at the beginning.

Finally, once they realized I had nothing to offer, I captured them as they walked around me and headed back to the water.  I’m sure they were thinking I had been a total waste of their time and energy.

Afternoon fishing . . . and a drive-by

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Dressed in little and wishing I could take that off, the summer sun baked the shore and me with it.  Nevertheless, I held my ground in defiant agony.  I had arrived to watch the wildlife, and watching the wildlife was precisely what I intended to do.

As I melted on the pier with no available cover, I noticed a great egret (Ardea alba) roaming about in the shallows in search of lunch.  The distance between us prevented me from capturing a better video than the one included here, but I still believe you can get the feel of the moment.

The white egret successfully captures a fish and swallows it down, and then it takes a quick drink of water to ensure the fishy has something to swim in while being digested.  Or at least that’s what I thought.

What I did not take note of until after that drink was that a great blue heron (Ardea herodias) was standing mere feet away from the egret, watching silently, perhaps even jealously for the meal one enjoyed and the other did not.  Only after the egret began moving away did the heron start milling around as if it had only just remembered why it was standing there in the water.

But it didn’t stop there.  Even as I pondered whether to stop the video and leave the edge of the pier where sunlight reflected into my face from the surface of the lake, I heard the sound of quacking nearby that seemed to be growing closer and closer.  At the end of the video, you’ll see the duck drive-by performed by the unidentifiable threesome I spoke of previously.  There are two white females and the one dark male, none of whom seem willing to provide their taxonomic credentials.  Perhaps another time…

[Update] I have since identified the white duck as a pekin duck (a.k.a. domestic duck, white pekin duck, or Long Island duck; Anas domesticus).

The post-arrival frenzy

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After a few hundred American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) showed up close to the same pier I was haunting, an equal number of ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) and herring gulls (Larus argentatus) swooped in for some unknown reason.  I posted a few photos yesterday from that event.  Today, you can see the video.

The voices you hear in the background are those of random people walking around the lake.  Otherwise, you hear the gulls and an occasional duck.  The gulls congregated near the shore for a while—not all of which was captured in this video—and then they calmed down.  Their numbers thin at the end as you’ll see.  What isn’t obvious is that many of them landed on the pier while others scattered about the shore, and many more landed in the water.

Meanwhile, the pelicans assembled en masse to preen and do their pelican stuff—whatever that might be.

The cloudy day and clamoring of the birds made for a wonderful and relaxing time.

The great arrival

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With overcast skies, a slight breeze, and warm temperatures, I could not help taking a walk at the lake this morning.  Promises of hard freezes and wintry precipitation later in the week also will spurn me to visit the wildlife refuge, but this morning’s excursion was more to relieve stress than it was anything else.  Yet I still found time to capture some videos and photographs while I attempted to lose myself in nature.

Standing near the shore behind one of the local piers, I watched with awe-filled eyes the arrival of hundreds of American white pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).  I had already photographed and videoed several on a nearby log as they preened and perched under gray skies in dim morning light.  But watching the air above the water’s surface fill with these large birds as they glided in for web-footed landings made for a fascinating diversion.  I do not know why so many of them began congregating at the same time where only a dozen or so had been before.  I do know it offered a captivating scene.

The video below was made in haste only after I had watched for several minutes the inbound squadrons joining the growing raft on the lake.  I apologize in advance for the quality and the movement.  My focus remained on the event and the birds more than on producing a documentary nature film.  Despite its shortcomings, I think you will get at least some feel for what I witnessed.

A few notes.  Most of the birds you hear are ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) and herring gulls (Larus argentatus), and you also see many of them flying through the foreground of the video.  They were moving into the area en masse along with the pelicans.  I do not know what kind of ducks you hear occasionally in the background.  There are many species living at the lake and I know three or four were represented in the large group behind where I stood.  While I heard them as I stood there, you might not pick them out on the video, but the presence of several American coots (Fulica americana) behind me augmented the experience.  Because I had not planned for this video and only grabbed the camera after experiencing a V8 moment while I rested on the shore filling the time with a charismatic avian spectacle, I was unable to get clear shots of the pelican landings—the inbound glide, the jutted web-footed approach, the smooth slide along the water’s surface as natural landing gear slowed them, and the eventual sinking to comfortable floating positions.  I wish I had been able to grab some of that for you; it was enchanting to watch.

I love watching them do that

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I have a strange fascination with animals that can descend headfirst.  There are very few animals capable of this feat.  Well, there are very few when compared to the total number of animals we know about.  Some types of leopards can do it, snakes can do it, squirrels can do it, and most certainly, opossums and raccoons can do it.  It takes physical traits as well as ability to pull it off without flying face-first into the ground below.  After all, think about climbing a tree and how you eventually had to get down.  It’s the same way bears get down: ass first.  That makes the descent more difficult since you don’t have a clear view of what you’re doing or where you’re going.

Anyway, I can’t explain why I’ve always been so fascinated with animals that can descend the same way they ascend.  Perhaps it has to do with envy.  If I can’t do something, I probably have a weird interest in those creatures that can.  This is undoubtedly similar to flying, swimming deep for long periods of time without respiration equipment, or seeing well in the dark.  Maybe it’s just a Superman complex in that I want to do all the impossible things I can’t do naturally.

The point of all this is that I accidentally scared a juvenile opossum (Virginia opossum; Didelphis virginiana) yesterday morning.  While it seemed rather late for it to be out and about, opossums are generally nocturnal but aren’t required to be so like raccoons (Procyon lotor).  This little guy was probably on his way to his daytime bed when he stumbled upon the cat food outside.  When I stepped out to the patio, he scampered into the tree.  Eventually, as long as I stood there quietly and without large or sudden movements, he became unable to see me and finally came down.  Although I know he could smell me (they have an excellent sense of smell) and therefore knew I was still there, I also know the pile of cat food at my feet was very enticing.

I was able to capture his descent on video.  Again, I’m just fascinated by the whole headfirst thing.  Oh, and take note of the expert use of its prehensile tail.

By the way, that’s Vazra you hear in the background.  The windows were open and he was talking up a storm.  He does that when anything or anyone is outside.