by Christine Petersen
All Together Now! American white pelicans fly, feed, and nest together.
didn’t expect to see pelicans Now I understand why pelican at the summer festival in my flocks are called squadrons. Like ITwin Cities neighborhood, fighter planes ready for battle, they but here they are. Around me, form a tidy line with each bird hundreds of people are focused evenly spaced from its neighbors. on the live music, food, and crafts. The leader flaps once, almost -la No one else seems to notice the zily. Then, holding its broad wings huge birds passing overhead. flat, it gently tips to one side. Down The flock glides silently over the the line, the birds copy this mo- street, barely higher than the roof- tion and the squadron angles away tops and trees. Their snowy feath- from this noisy scene. ers gleam in the late-afternoon My curiosity soars along with sunshine. This plumage gives the the pelicans. What are such big species its name: American white animals doing in the middle of a pelican. With heads hunched back city? Where did they come from, against their shoulders and short and where are they going? And legs tucked beneath their tails, the most important: Where can I see RICHARD HAMILTON SMITH RICHARD HAMILTON
▼ birds look sleek and sturdy. more of them? oung Y
52 naturalists Minnesota Conservation Volunteer July–August 201 53 STEPHEN MAXSON Big, Big Birds The American white pelican is one of half of the pelican’s bill to its slender neck
North America’s largest bird species. Its below. This pouch allows the pelican to STEPHEN MAXSON body may be five feet long. That’s almost scoop up to three gallons of water—along twice the size of a bald eagle. And its with small fish, salamanders, tadpoles, Moving Around wings spread up to 9½ feet—wider than or crayfish that it quickly swallows. In Worldwide, there are eight pelican located on the eastern edge of the Great a trumpeter swan’s. Compare that to the spring, a rounded plate grows on top of species. Two can be found in North Plains, and almost one-quarter of the height of your ceiling, which is probably the bill. This “horn” indicates the bird is America. The smaller species, called the world’s American white pelicans nest here. 8 or 9 feet above the floor. ready to mate. brown pelican, always sticks close to the Young white pelicans don’t breed until Like all birds, pelicans don’t have a Despite its name, the white pelican ocean or saltwater lakes. American white they are about 3 years old. Some of these separate mouth and nose. Instead, those isn’t purely white. When it rises into pelicans visit coastlines in winter but immature birds remain on the coast, while structures are combined to form the bill. flight, a wide triangle of black feathers usually nest inland. others migrate. The young birds don’t stay The white pelican’s bill is completely, is revealed at the tip and lower edge of Adult males and females migrate in in one place, though. They move around wonderfully different from the bills of other each wing. The bill and webbed feet are separate groups, following river valleys in search of food—which they sometimes birds, though. It’s up to 13½ inches long also brightly colored—pumpkin orange northward for hundreds of miles. They find on lakes, rivers, and wetlands in cities and pointed like a knight’s broadsword. during the nesting season, fading to head for the Great Plains region at the and towns. That might explain the flock I Stretchy, loose skin connects the lower pinkish-yellow in winter. middle of the continent. Minnesota is saw during the summer festival.
54 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer July–August 201 55 A mixed American white pelican and double-crested cormorant nesting colony north of the Twin Cities. Island Homes While I’m pondering pelicans in the city, ask about her research. “White pelicans jokingly compares it to being on the moon. wide when a neighbor comes too close. Francesca Cuthbert is on her way to find nest on islands,” she explained. “Some The pelicans seem to like it that way. A few White pelicans may return to the same them in the wilderness. Cuthbert is a colonies are protected, and some are so weeks after arriving, they choose partners islands year after year, but they have professor at the University of Minnesota remote that few people know they’re and begin to build nests. This structure to be flexible. Dry or wet weather can and an expert on waterbirds and there.” Marsh Lake, where the Minnesota isn’t fancy—just a ring of pebbles and dramatically change lakes, rivers, and shorebirds. Since 2004, she and her team River begins in western Minnesota, has sticks that keeps the eggs from rolling wetlands. The water level is lower during a
have conducted a census of American the state’s largest white pelican colony. In WILDLIFE SERVICES-MN USDA (DRONE IMAGE) away. Pelicans are quite social, so their drought. That makes it easier for coyotes, white pelicans to help the Minnesota northern Minnesota, Lake of the Woods nests are placed close together. “A single foxes, and other predators to reach the Department of Natural Resources track and Leech Lake also provide good colony might have 2,000 nests or more,” colony and eat eggs or chicks. In rainy the number of pelicans in our state and nesting habitat. Cuthbert tells me. But the nesting birds years, water rises up the shoreline and where they nest. Many of these nesting islands are flat are also serious about social distance. They covers some of the nest area. Pelicans that Life in the Colony. I called Cuthbert to and almost bare of vegetation. Cuthbert poke and spread their bills threateningly arrive late may have to look elsewhere.
56 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer July–August 201 57 A mixed American white pelican and double- crested cormorant nesting colony in western Minnesota in early June.
COURTESY OF FRANCESCA J. CUTHBERT, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA 58 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer July–August 201 59 RICHARD HAMILTON SMITH RICHARD HAMILTON A Close Call White pelicans are fairly common today. Recent counts show Chase Lake in North Dakota But this wasn’t always the case. As mil- to be the largest nesting site in North America. lions of European settlers moved west in the mid-1800s, they plowed up prairies passed to protect all migratory bird spe-
USDA WILDLIFE SERVICES-MN USDA (DRONE IMAGE) and filled in wetlands for farmland. In cies and save more of their habitat. just a few decades, a lot of pelican habi- These actions allowed the pelican popu- Counting tat was lost across the Great Plains. lation to grow at Chase Lake. After a num- Cuthbert uses a few methods in her Drone image of American white pelican colony at The new settlers often shot pelicans ber of years, the site became too crowded census. Sometimes the nests are easily Pigeon Lake, Wright County, in June 2020. for entertainment or to prevent pelicans and young birds had to look for new loca- visible and can be counted from boats. from eating fish. Colonies also failed be- tions to nest. In 1968, biologists were excit- More often, the team must land its boat can’t be reached by boat. To census these, cause of disturbance. Adult pelicans may ed to find about 50 white pelicans nesting on the island. “We walk through the Cuthbert must do an aerial count. “Pelicans abandon their eggs and chicks if people on remote lakes in west-central Minnesota. colony,” she says, “and mark each nest are big and white—easy to spot from the get too close. By 1904, only one nest was Over the years, Cuthbert’s census has with a dot of orange paint that will wash air,” she says. In the future, the researchers found in the whole state of Minnesota. found several dozen white pelican colonies away soon after.” The researchers move might be able to use drones for this work. The next year, a visitor to North in Minnesota, with as many as 22,000 nests slowly and quietly so the birds don’t For now, they fly over the colonies in Dakota counted only 500 pelicans on spread among them. But white pelicans become alarmed. Two or more people a small airplane and take pictures. The Chase Lake, where there once had been are still at risk from the effects of climate count the marked nests and compare the digital photos are loaded onto a computer. a huge nesting colony. He convinced change, which could cause a weird mix of result to be sure it’s right. Special software is used to identify and the U.S. government to make the place strong summer storms and drought that A few of Minnesota’s pelican colonies count nests in the images. a wildlife refuge. Federal laws were soon affects the pelicans’ nesting habitat.
60 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer July–August 201 61 COURTESY OF FRANCESCA J. CUTHBERT, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CUTHBERT, COURTESY OF FRANCESCA J. Family Life White pelicans arrive at their colonies over a storage area where digestion begins.
a period of weeks, usually in April. The The parent can spit up this soupy mixture ROLAND JORDAHL earliest birds set up house near each other. and dribble it into a small chick’s gaping Those that show up later settle in differ- mouth. As the young pelican grows, it Working Together ent locations. In these neighborhoods, the will begin to “dive” into a parent’s open Every day, white pelicans fly 30 miles or fish below. Two pelicans, or sometimes chicks all hatch around the same time. bill to pull food from its crop. more from their nests in search of good many more, form a line or half-circle White pelicans are good parents. White pelican chicks grow quickly. fishing grounds. According to Cuth- around their prey. Then they rush for- They spread their large, webbed feet They form a downy covering of feath- bert, a white pelican eats 4 to 5 pounds ward, herding the fish into shallow wa- over the eggs to warm them. After about ers for warmth, then sprout flight feath- of food a day, and each chick needs ter. Sometimes, hungry pelicans steal a month, each chick begins to peck ers on the wings. Within a month, the about 150 pounds of food to grow up food from other waterbirds that live through its shell. The hatchlings have chicks have left the nest and learn to strong. This typically doesn’t make few- nearby—or even from other pelicans. no feathers and are completely helpless. swim. Until they are strong enough to er fish available to people. White peli- In October and November, cold One parent must stay close to protect fly, at about two months of age, all the cans prefer minnows and other species weather causes lakes to freeze across them while the other flies off to hunt. chicks in the neighborhood hang out that we rarely eat. Minnesota and the Great Plains. Amer- Food is not held in the pelican’s pouch. together. Their parents return only to The flock often works as a team to ican white pelicans take to the skies It goes down the bird’s throat to the crop, provide food. ensure the best catch. The birds paddle again, moving southward bit by bit. slowly around, peering down or ducking Wherever you live in Minnesota, look their heads into the water. They watch up in autumn! You might spot these el- Teachers resources. Find a Teachers Guide and for movement that reveals schools of egant birds soaring high overhead. nV other resources for this and other Young Naturalists stories at mndnr.gov/young_naturalists. 62 Minnesota Conservation Volunteer July–August 201 63