Pelicans demonstrate the dangers of littering

I spent most of this last February hanging out with a flock of American White Pelicans in Florida. They are migratory and spend their winters down south where the water doesn't freeze. A flock of about 300 took up residence at a lake in a residential area where they fascinated and thrilled the locals, who look forward to their arrival each season.

White Pelicans are scoop-feeders, moving around the water as a group and shoveling up whatever is in the water. Unfortunately, this includes trash. 

The pelican in the photo above holds a plastic sauce container in its bill. When I saw this, I panicked, worried the pelican would swallow it. The container is the right size to go down the bird's gullet, but thankfully, the pelican just toyed with the container before discarding it. 

 

I didn't notice this at the time, only realizing later when I was checking photos, but the pelican below has a hole in its pouch. The hole doesn't look that big, but can definitely interfere with the pelican's ability to swallow. I don't know what caused the tear, and hope it wasn't the result of human carelessness.

Suddenly, there was some drama when several pelicans began tussling over something.

They got so excited, as two pelicans played tug-o-war with the object, two others chomped the head of one of them. I'm not sure what the expected outcome of this was, but it was amusing to watch. 

Arrrggg! 

The object turned out to be a plastic shopping bag and I was horrified to see one of the pelicans try to swallow it.

The whole gang tried to grab the bag, which became submerged in the water.

Then it was revealed...the plastic bag contained a fish. No wonder they were trying to eat it.

My heart sank seeing this. It's likely the fish swam into the bag and died, then the pelicans found it and thought it was easy food.

This photo shows the pelican's mouth wide open and you can see how small the opening to the throat is, but the pelican is really trying to swallow the bag.

Again, I was thankful the pelican failed to swallow the trash, but it was really upsetting to see the attempt.

 

Meanwhile, a few feet away, another pelican caught a fish.  

I noticed some commotion and thought the pelicans were going after the plastic bag again, but this time, it turned out to be a plastic McDonald's cup.

I never knew a pelican could resemble a Calla Lily.

This photo shows the crazy pelican bill. The top part is narrow and straight while the bottom is flexible.

Noooo!

This experience with the pelicans stressed me out as there was nothing I could do to stop them from eating the garbage they found in the water. This lake is maintained, but it seems you can't 100% prevent people from tossing their trash. At one end of the lake, there is a floating barrier to prevent garbage that might come out of a drainage pipe from going further into the lake. But these are curious birds and they flocked to that particular area because that's also where the fish were hiding.

 

I caught these pelicans doing something even more horrifying/interesting, which will be revealed in an upcoming post.

 

 

Midweek Ospreys

Ospreys are making their way north from their southern wintering grounds and I've seen a few in our area over the last several days. They are often seen soaring overhead as they hunt for fish, and are one of my favorite raptors to photograph because they often check out the camera. 

This one carries a giant stick back to its nest.

Another one carries smaller nesting material.

Here is an example of an Osprey hovering just before it dives into the water.

Giving me a stern look...

I love watching them soar with their long lanky wings.

This one was taking a break from nest-building near a beach.

In happy Osprey news, Iris, one of the oldest known Opsreys in the world, returned to her nest in Montana on April 6th. I eagerly await her arrival each year, and am overjoyed that she is with us for another season. She's around 30 years old and you can tune in to her activities on Cornell's Hellgate Osprey cam.

 

 

A few early springtime birds

Flowers and trees are blooming, and it's really starting to feel like Spring. Bird migration has begun and you can follow along by checking out the Birdcast migration tool.

One sure sign of Spring is when American Woodcocks show up in Bryant Park, NYC. This year, it seems they are getting a lot of attention as people from all over are flocking to see them.

The attention is well-deserved. Just look at this guy! 

The photos below are from some early spring birding trips I took. As spring bird migration picks up, we should start to see some new characters in our region.

 

Eastern Meadowlark: 

Painted Bunting (male):

Pileated Woodpecker (female):

Northern Cardinal (male):

Rufous Hummingbird:

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher:

Brown Thrasher:

Common Loon transitioning into breeding plumage:

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron:

Downy Woodpecker (female):

More to come.

Friday Pelicans

Today feels like a pelican kind of day.

I spent some time this last February hanging out with Brown Pelicans on the Gulf Coast. They're fascinating and watching them go about their day was a great way to de-stress.

They're so cool when they dive. I'll do a dedicated diving post at some point in the future. Every evening, they gathered in one particular area to go fishing.

I think one thing I love about pelicans is they're so big. Their wingspan is around 7 feet.

I watched a pair gathering nesting material from post-storm debris on some rocks.

They flew their sticks to an island nearby where many pelicans, egrets, and herons were also busy building nests.

 

This one found some nice greenery. 

This is an immature pelican toying with a cluster of leaves among a group of adults.

Here comes the squadron, on their way to their roosting island at sunset.

The photos above all show Brown Pelicans. I also spent a lot of time with American White Pelicans, which I will be posting about soon.