Improved and combined several of my YouTube videos from a while back, of bird surveys on Lake Butte des Morts into one. Full description of the video below.
ON THIS VIDEO:
1) American White Pelican chick and egg
2) Walking through Pelican and Cormorant nesting colony
3) Pelican chick calling from inside egg
4) Double-crested cormorant chicks calling
5) Hatching cormorant eggs
6) Canada Goose nest with fuzzy chicks
This island was primarily inhabited by American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) and Double-Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) . Over the years these birds trampled and poisoned the island vegetation with their guano. Worse yet, thousands of birds had a major negative, but the local impact on the aquatic ecosystem. Aquatic vegetation perished causing a drastic decline in water quality, game fish, and waterfowl. To reduce the negative impacts several of these islands were shaved down below the water line. Both species continue to nest on the lake, but in reduced numbers.
In this video we are walking the nesting island, dividing it in two, to facilitate the survey. The video is a bit shaky, but the priority was the safety of the chicks and eggs below. I had to walk very carefully to avoid stepping on eggs and chicks