Story and photos by Derek Doeffinger
The fish-eating birds of Montezuma may soon be too fat to fly. For the past few weeks they have been ravenously feasting on fish in the disappearing waters of the Main Pool.
Every five years or so, the National Wildlife Refuge drains the water from the big pond bordering the entrance road. They’re trying to control invasive plant species, especially Phragmites. These reeds, taller than people and topped with a feathery plume, form dense stands that push out native plants that native wildlife, including many migrant birds, relies on for food and shelter.
One half of the big pond (also known as Black Lake or the Main Pool) is now about half drained, reduced to muck and puddles; the remaining half seems to be down to a depth of a foot or so. But it’s still being lowered.
Fish trapped in pools of water become easy pickings. Those in the remaining shallows are easily visible for hungry birds.
With a blue heron rookery only a mile to the west, the herons flock here for an all you can eat buffet of fish. Twenty to forty of them hang out in the middle of the pond, often stretched out in a line. A smaller group heads to the pools below the roadside bank, only twenty-five feet from your car. This past Tuesday about a dozen great egrets staked out puddles close to the roadside. One, at a fish-filled puddle, claimed it as his own and frequently chased away competitors.
The gulls seem to be employing cormorants as fish chasers. On Tuesday, a small flock of flapping gulls followed a group of ten cormorants paddling and diving for their fish. The gulls probably weren’t choosy about getting scraps or using thievery.
The last time the pond was drained I saw several eagles competing for stranded carp. So far the eagles haven’t congregated here.
