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| Richard Baker, President of Pelican Island Audubon Society, guided a canoe trip for ORCA-FMEL volunteers on the morning of Saturday, April 23, 2011. The object of the trip was to visit a rookery island in the Indian River Lagoon near the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA). As a birding adventure, the trip proved to be a spectacular success---even though faced with the daunting task of taking pictures from an unstable kayak!. | |
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The rookery island is a major nesting ground for the Brown Pelican in the Indian River Lagoon. |
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| Numerous Brown Pelicans were observed on their nests presumably incubating their eggs. |  |
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Other Brown Pelicans, above and below, were observed flying to the island with construction material to use for building their nests.. |
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A Brown Pelican in flight. |
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Other birds seen in and around the rookery island include, above, Roseate Spoonbills, and, left, Black Vultures. Vultures are a common sight around rookeries as they loiter around hoping to pick up a meal due to the high mortality rate among the young birds. |
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| Magnificent Frigatebirds were roosting on the island or soaring overhead. Female Frigatebirds and juveniles sport varying amounts of white feathers on their head and breasts. | |
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Go to Page Two > > > Images & Text by Bob Montanaro. |
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All
images and text copyright Pelican Island Audubon Society. E-mail: piaudubon@bellsouth.net |
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