Sheldon Lake for the Birds
June 17, 2020
by Natalie Wiest
Spring and early summer at Sheldon Lake is the time for birds. I hadn’t visited in a while, but a side trip from Beltway 8 a few days previous revealed enough open waterway, and potential for good birds, so I returned on Wednesday, June 17 for a closeup view accompanied by Carl Kuhnen. I’m typically taking pictures like crazy with my point and shoot camera but opted for this trip to bring the digital SLR, and was very glad I had. I will post a few of my photos here, but a more complete collection is at the club’s “Photos” site.
One of the attractions of Sheldon, in addition to birds, is clean, clear water, tannin stained black. The water is attractive to all kinds of wildlife, both flora and fauna. The challenge to this relatively shallow lake is that in the summer it gets practically closed off to boat traffic by rampant aquatic plant growth. Water lotus was everywhere, and in full bloom. The weird blobs of bryozoans were also “blooming” and once we spotted the first few, we started seeing them everywhere.
| (Click photos to enlarge) |
 |
In this photo the wind has tipped up the big lotus leaves, many of which would otherwise just be floating on the surface.
The bryozoan attaches itself to stems and floats beneath the surface.
The lake is very popular with fishermen (and women) too. Here is one group by Garrett Road close to the kayak access.
As one paddles south from Garrett road toward the boat ramp off Pineland Road, there is immediately a heron rookery on the right. We paddled for some distance beyond it until we started seeing birds again on the islands that in the past have been densely populated. We feel the population is down over some previous years but were well rewarded for our effort with a veritable smorgasbord of species.
I’ll end this short trip description with a panoramic view of the lake.
If you’d like to see lots more of the birds, check out the photo album on the HCC website:
Happy birding.
Natalie Wiest
|
|
The author, Natalie Wiest |