1 April 2011: We have been spending some time the last two mornings kayaking by the Tonto River entrance to Lake Roosevelt. After they raised the dam level a few years ago, all the old cottonwood trees and brush in that area has died. Many of the trees have become rookeries for the Double Crested Cormorants and Blue Herons. I never thought we could have so many laughs watching cormorants building their nests with sticks and moss. They are hilarious. Sometimes they over shoot their landings to the nest and have to make a go around, but mostly they land pretty well. Not really graceful though. I took hundreds of pictures, but I do wish I had a movie camera a few times. We saw one pair almost knock their nest out of the tree, others seem to get into a fight on how and where to put the stick. One thing that amazed us was some of the males were sitting on the nest and the females brought the sticks, but mostly it was the females who were on the nests - that is if I can tell the difference. And I don’t know if once the eggs are laid if the males share the duty or not. Some of the cormorants already had eggs in their nest I think as there was just one bird around there. The female blue herons were always on the nest. We spent quite a bit of time paddling around through the brush watching the show.
It was really hot here today – in the 90’s! Connie took Zeus down to the lake for a little swim. He really likes water and always has.
Here are some of the pictures of our day.
This is how it looks paddling in the trees.
The cardinal was watching us have our tea this morning.
One of the trees that has become a nesting place of cormorants and herons.
The bald eagles are also nesting in this area.
A blue heron watching us paddle back to our jeep.
I have never seen a raven and a buzzard share a meal of a fish carcass before.
A male coming in for a landing.
Bringing in nesting material.
Here is a male on the nest and the female bringing the sticks.
This male blue heron was really preening himself.
A sequence of a heron bringing in material for the nest.
Zeus the water loving dog.
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