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 things that are white in winter are White Pelicans, as well as Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, and Great Egrets. Often these White Pelicans have a little feeding frenzy in J. N.Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel, FL. When the wind pushs the tide out more than usual so the water levels are low, it congregates fish. 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.
After they winter here, in groups, they migrate back to their breeding areas.
Enjoy!
4 comments:
I enjoy watching the White Pelicans.
Love that efficient way of enjoying a meal! And especially nice to see it up close in your video.
Lovely images Lillian! I really enjoy watching Pelicans...so majestic in flight, funny looking with their breeding bill, interesting to watch fishing, a very cool bird indeed.
I grew up on a fishing resort in northern MN on a lake called Pelican Lake. And, yes, we had white pelicans! For a time we used to put the fish guts from the cleaning house on a raft, and we'd have up to 50 of these magnificent birds descend for a bite to eat. Unfortunately a neighbor complained to a conservation officer about the noise of the accompanying gulls and we had to quit that practice.
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