Summer Birds
Many birds stay busy in the far North during the summer months, mating, breeding, brooding, and feeding fledglings in habitats filled with food and largely clear of human population. The number of species we see here in and around the park in summer is a fraction of the other seasons. Still, there is bird life and bird activity, as these photos demonstrate. Above, photographer Susan Black captured a few of the numerous Brown Pelicans that have come to feed on the North Basin. (Note also the cormorants in the water.) Below, a photo taken in July of a Willet in breeding plumage. They are a plain gray above in normal times but develop marked patterns when their hormones say it’s time. Also present: a Great Blue Heron, checking out the pickings at low tide.
A definite sign that the Black-crowned Night-Herons are breeding locally is this very young juvenile, below.
More summer birds soon . . .
Lovely photos, Susan!
Wonderful photos!!! Thank you for sharing!