Bill Tuckers Field Journal

While not following my own advice from a Journal entry or two back I had the most productive morning with the White Pelicans in Placida for flight shots yesterday that I have had in a year or two.  Now truth be told I really didn’t head out looking to photograph anything. I was going out specifically looking for one juvenile brown pelican that had been spotted two days in a row at the same bridge in Placida with his foot tied to his chest via a treble hook. While it’s reported the bird still flies he isn’t having an easy time catching food and is in danger of becoming entangled as he is also trailing fishing line. As I was up early I thought I’ll drag my gear along and see what type of shots I can get out at the white pelican island first. I was figuring it would be a few brown pelicans and great Blue Herons and such. Not sure why, maybe the cold front that rolled in or the tide being wrong but the whole flock of white pelicans was not interested in leaving the island. Many would take flight to move from one side of the island to the other when the gulls would get upset about something. This led to two and half hours of  opportunities with these guys. I still would not change my recommendation based on one morning though. Over the years I have seen them totally leave the island before sunrise too many times!

Afterwards I set out looking for the one brown pelican that had be reported. Despite looking all over Placida, the bridge he was spotted at three times I never found him. I even decided to head north into Sarasota County to check the next rookery island to the North incase that is where he roosts.

While I didn’t find him I found another pelican that had himself hooked with line and tied to an island. This is really awful to see as a bird is litterly on deaths doorstep at this point. If the line doesn’t break or some kind person doesn’t find them in time they litterly will starve to death or hang themselves depending on how they are hooked and entangled. Either way it’s not a pleasant way to die and totally avoidable. This pelican wasn’t too bad off. He was only hooked with a standard hook into his one wing and entangled himself in a way that hook wasn’t being pulled on when he tried to move about to get free. I suspect he hadn’t been entangled too long as he wasn’t weak, thin or dehydrated yet. After cutting him out branches I brought him on the boat and was able to easily remove the hook. After checking over, making sure his wings still extended and moved properly I was able to set him free and that honestly made my day.

As yesterday was such a nice day I spent most of it out on the water in Placida / Charlotte Harbor. There was hardly anybody else out. I think I saw more dolphins than boats. At low tide, which unfortunately occurred around mid-day, birds were all over the shallow flats feeding. We still have a large number of terns and skimmers in the area, which I guess is partly due to the quiet hurricane season we have had. The brown pelicans were still only on the outer island and the lack of spotting any white pelicans made me think they had not yet returned.

After checking various spots in Gasparilla Sound and runing out to Cayo Costa I decided to head up to the Sarasota area even though I had just been there a few days before. I spotted a Royal Tern in the water off Stump Pass that was entangled in fishing line and doing the survival float. After picking him up I continued north. After checking a few islands around Nokomis and Sarasota and running in to Mooch the dolphin I headed back south to Placida.

When I got back to Placida and into the harbor and the pelican island was in sight I knew my earlier conclusion about the white pelicans was wrong. There was a sea of white on the one side of the island, which could only be them. As I got closer to the island it was clear the whole flock had already returned for the winter. There were at least 150 white pelicans there. I spent the next hour and a half with at the island until sunset.

If you are interested in a trip to photograph these guys I only recommend doing it in the afternoons. Mornings are certainly possible but these guys are very unpredictable in the morning.

It was also obvious that the Ospreys around Placida have started claiming nest sites, no signs of pairing up or nest building. I have not seen this with Ospreys further north.

With the beautiful weather we have been having I made a trip yesterday afternoon / evening back to the island in Manatee County where a few weeks ago I had noticed that there were still Magnificent Frigatebirds. Upon arriving it didn’t look like many were still there but by evening they all came in to roost and the population looked to be about the same as a few weeks ago. Still a lot of males around in prime breeding color unfortunately once they have found a perch they like they seem content to just sit there and show off.

Quite a number of juvenile pelicans and cormorants at this island that are still being fed from there parents. At least one Great Blue Heron was gathering sticks, couldn’t tell if it was building a new nest or fixing up one that had late babies in it. No signs of white pelicans in this area yet.