Field Notes from a River-Fed Lake
A river flows into a large lake called a reservoir. A broad sandbar rises above the water near a viewing deck. An animal-watching team observes from the deck without feeding, touching, or moving the wildlife.
American white pelicans feed in the shallow water. Some fish alone. Others swim side by side in a curved line. The team sees small fish gather between the line of birds and the shallow edge. The pelicans dip their bills into this smaller space and scoop up fish.
The team counts fish caught by four individual pelicans. Each bird is watched for ten minutes. Pelicans A and B fish alone. Pelicans C and D each fish as part of a group. The watches take place in similar shallow areas during the morning. The graph shows each bird's catches, not the catches of its whole group. The team cannot tell whether the same number of fish was nearby during every watch.
Canada geese also visit the sandbar. Several geese lower their heads to eat plants. One nearby goose holds its head up and looks around. When a fox walks toward the feeding geese, the head-up goose gives loud honks. The other geese lift their heads, stop feeding, and swim away from the sandbar. The fox stays on the dry sand. The team records the order of these events.