White pelicans fishing at San Pablo Reservoir
By Gary Bogue
Monday, April 11th, 2011 at 6:42 am in Cormorants, Mergansers, Pelicans.
White pelicans fishing at San Pablo Reservoir by Dave Harper, Oakley, CA.
Gary:
This group of photos were all taken at San Pablo Dam Reservoir (near Orinda, CA). Due to budget issues they close the south end boat launch area three days a week. This gave me an opportunity to hike there from the north end of the lake. With relatively no one around I was able to get decent access to the white pelican population of the lake.
The water there is still muddy and must be making it tough on ospreys and bald eagles and I saw both at a distance.
White pelicans, mergansers, cormorants fishing at San Pablo reservoir by Dave Harper, Oakley, CA
I did witness an interesting fishing tactic involving at least 4 separate species of birds all working together with their different styles and modes of fishing. A group of hoodlums and outlaws following the top water small fish around the lake with decent success. If area fishermen followed this group with top water baits they may have gotten some action. The above photo is of this fishing crew.
This was as close as I could get to them though I enjoyed watching them.
Dave Harper, Oakley, California
Dave:
I’ll bet it was interesting to see the different fishing styles between the birds in the above group (I can make out the white pelicans, male and female common mergansers, and two species of cormorants). Fascinating. And your photos are, of course, beautiful as always. Thanks for sharing them. /Gary
White pelican by Dave Harper, Oakley, CA
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