Sunny, moderate southeast winds, high 70s
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| "Disappearing Island" |
The Indian River Lagoon is home to a great number of species of shorebirds, waders, gull, terns, and raptors. Many of these species are endangered or threatened because of a myriad of elements. The prime contributor to the demise of these birds is the encroachment of humans and the loss of habitat due to development. Throughout the lagoon, there are islands, some extensive and some small, which serve as safe haven for a number of these breeding birds.
Our Tuesday morning birding group decided to rent a pontoon boat and head out to one such oasis known as “Disappearing Island”. You may recall that almost a week ago, I stumbled upon a large group of plovers which normally spend a great deal of time on this island but were on the beach of the peninsula instead. An abnormally high tide coupled with strong east winds had driven the water up and over "Disappearing Island" (hence the name) which we were birding today, and the plovers had come to the drier land at Smyrna Dunes Park. Today, we hoped to find the birds in their more common ground.
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| Reddish egret |
When we first arrived on the beach of the island, we found a Reddish egret fishing a shallow tidal pool. The methods employed by this egret make it look like a drunken sailor, bouncing from place to place, creating shadows for the fish to congregate beneath by stretching out its wings, and then pouncing down upon its prey. We watched as the bird, oblivious to our presence, plied the waters of the pool with remarkably constant success.
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| Success! |
We scoped out the distant flats of the island and found many Sanderlings. Among these common shorebirds, we eventually found what we were looking for….the Piping plovers and the Wilson’s plover. All of a sudden, the entire flock of 50 – 60 birds rose in unison and began to scatter. We soon saw the reason for the commotion as a dog, left free to roam the island and chase the birds by two boaters who had landed on the other side of the island ran full speed into the birds. A safe haven, or so we thought it to be, had been broached by careless dog owners bringing their unleashed dog to this remote island to run free.
We left the island and headed for a second smaller and less attractive (to dog owners, anyway) island near the boat launch area of the Marine Discovery Center. Bird Island, as this piece of real estate is known, serves as a rookery for many egrets, herons, pelicans, and night-herons. The island is protected from predators like snakes and raccoons by the surrounding water. While there were many birds successfully nesting here, we have seen in the past that even here, the birds are not completely safe. Fishermen who carelessly leave monofilament line laying around on the ground or break off the line which gets snagged on the lagoon bottom are unknowingly setting a hideous trap for many of these birds. Often the birds get entangled in the line and carry it streaming behind into the rookery. The line then finds its way to the legs, wings, and bills of other birds which get basically “tied into” the mangroves……a death sentence. Many a pelican and Cattle egret has met a lengthy grueling end by starvation as a result of the fish line in the lagoon.
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| Brown pelican flying over "Bird Island" |
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| Cattle egret in breeding plumage |
So, in the end, we had a trip that was enjoyable in that we could see so many of these beautiful birds, but at the same time disconcerting in the fact that we know the safe havens provided by these island oases are not in fact always "safe". If humans can learn to share the habitat with the “rightful owners”, the birds will be so much better off in the long run. We all need to make that effort.
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