News From My Egret Pond

 



 

 

 

By Mel Carriere

The rather murky body of water you see above is located on my mail delivery route in San Diego.  It is a rather stagnant pool that collects along an ephemeral stream bed in the Tijuana River Valley that I am pretty sure must eventually connect to the River itself, which is not far off.  Despite the weak or non existence flow of this stream, there always seems to be water in the pond - of dubious quality, of course.

 

Even though it might be questionable by human standards,  birds, seem to like it.  So I call this my Egret pond because I frequently see a Great Egret posted on its North Bank, from where it presumably hunts.  I never see the bird on the South Bank and I am wondering if the strong sunlight reflected from its white plumage blinds its potential prey items and provides a kind of disguise.  I have only been the mailman here since late September,  and I am anxious to see whether or not the bird switches sides in the summer,  when the sun is more directly overhead.

I should call it my Coot Pond because I see many more Coots here than Egrets, but Coot Pond sounds rather mundane, while Egret Pond has an exotic, almost je ne sais quoi Frenchy ring, so I will go with that.

 

On Tuesday I was pleased to find some dabbling ducks in the stew as well.  I was particularly happy to see a pair of Cinnamon Teal, a bird I haven't seen in a couple years.  There was also a Gadwall, which is the duck you see in the very pedestrian photo above if you really squint.  Along with these more notable dabblers there was also a pair of Mallards, who don't thrill me too much because I often find them over wintering in apartment swimming pools; lounging about the deck as shamelessly as if they were paying rent.

 

If I see anything interesting in My Egret Pond I will be sure to post it on these pages.  I pass by it almost every day unless I don't have any mail for the horse farms down there.  A little haughty of me to call the pond "My, " I know, but I don't think anyone else is willing to take possession.  I'll arm wrestle the Coots for it if I have to.

 

 

Photo is my own

 

 

Birds by Mel is powered for flight by copious amounts of shade grown, warbler friendly coffee, which unfortunately is very expensive.   I have nothing to do with ad selection here, but unless you find them completely annoying or offensive I would appreciate if you investigated what my sponsors have to say.