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Thursday, January 13, 2011

White Pelicans, up close and personal

White Pelicans are such group-oriented birds

They do the same things at the same time, preening

and then going out to feed.







Sending you some birds from sunny Florida where the only thing white is these White Pelicans, as well as Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, and Great Egrets. Often these White Pelicans have a little feeding frenzy in Ding Darling NWR in Sanibel, FL. When the wind pushs the tide out more than usual so the water levels are low, it congregatesfish. These pelicans feed, often as a group, by "herding" fish and scooping the small fish up in their bills, letting the water spill out. Click on the video to watch them feed. It is such a treat to see them so close.

White Pelicans are winter visitors here. Their breeding areas are in western areas of the U.S. and Canada, such as MT, ID, UT, WY, etc. Their relatives, the Brown Pelicans, live in southern coastal areas all year, and have a different method of feeding by diving headfirst into the water to catch a fish.
Enjoy!

3 comments:

Life Looms Large said...

We do have a little more white in NH these days!

Stay warm & keep posting all those fabulous southern adventures to keep the rest of us dreaming!

Sue

Kurt Hagemeister said...

Great video! White pelicans are much less numerous in Florida than the Brown Pelicans, so they're always a treat to see. On our winter visits down there we often see a small group down near Boca Grande (up the coast from you). It was also interesting to see them this past May up in the Grand Tetons area of WY. It was still cold up there, but there they were!

Anonymous said...

Amazing video of the White Pelicans!!!! They are a thrill to watch. They come to a lake here in Alexandria MN in the spring & stay through the summer. A big flock of them even flew over our alley once. Beautiful to watch in flight!!!!!!!