There have been several reports of a couple of American White Pelicans over-wintering in a pond behind the Post Office in Tualatin. American White Pelicans usually winter in the deep southern states, Mexico and northern Central America.On my way back from TRNWR on Monday, I decided to swing by and see if I could find them. Sure enough, they were napping on a small island in the middle of the pond (evidently it is called Hedges Creek Marsh).What I found most interesting is how pale and pink their bills were. During the summer they are bright orange-yellow.
I'm back in Oregon and decided to spend some time at Fernhill Wetlands. It was a beautiful day, mid 70's and mostly sunny, and the ponds were active with birds.I had seen American White Pelicans here before, but always far off in one of the inaccessible ponds. Today they were in the pond just north of the main Fernhill pond. They didn't make it easy for me however as they were leery of my presence, always swimming away before I could get too close. They eventually flew off leaving me only a handful of reasonably close pictures.I continued on walking the service roads and eventually circled back towards the same pond. Before getting there, I saw them fly back in, so my hopes were up that I'd get a second chance.Sure enough, they were still there when I arrived, but they were still a bit cautious. After slowly following them around for a while and getting a few good pictures, a few took off flying. However this time, instead of flying away from me, they flew over head, allowing me to get several in-air photos.Based on the brown on the back of head of the Pelican in the photo above, I believe this one is immature.
The American White Pelicans are back for the summer. I've seen them now the last few times out both at Fernhill Wetlands and for the first time at RNWR. Just past marker 11, out in a mostly dry South Big Lake I saw a flock of about 100 of them huddled together. They looked somewhat restless so I took a quick shot of them, then stopped my car and jumped out to get a clearer shot over the tall grasses. But, by the time I got them in view, they were in flight.
They flew right over me a few times, circling as they do, slowly gaining altitude.
During the breeding season the upper mandible develops a fibrous plate called a nuptial tubercle as can be seen in the image above. It is between 1 to 3 inches in diameter. This nuptial tubercle falls off when mating season is over and is unique to the American White Pelican.
They are really magnificent birds and a wonder to watch!
