Winter wildlife takes center stage on Belvedere Lagoon

When winter arrives on the Belvedere Lagoon, water levels drop, swimmers and paddleboarders retreat indoors and wildlife takes center stage.

Hundreds of brown pelicans and cormorants sweep over the shallow waters hunting schools of smelt fingerlings. Great and snowy egrets hang in the pines over the water to pluck fish from the shallow edges. River otters in groups of six or seven cruise by on a regular basis.

“It’s like National Geographic every day,” said lagoon resident Peter Gillon.

Developers have said the 66-acre Belvedere lagoon, surrounded by 261 developed lots, is a “man-made recreational water feature.” But while the current contours of the lagoon are indeed human-made, its wild ecosystem supports a wide variety of migrating birds, mammals, fish and marine life.

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