|  Pelican
Paradise
For thousands of American White Pelicans,
two patchy, almost barren windswept Lake
Winnipeg island groupings are the perfect
place to feed, breed and loaf.
On the Gull and Sandhill Islands, near
the south end of Winnipeg's northern basin,
and among the Pipestone Rocks, a series
of small islands near Hecla/Grindstone Provincial
Park, thousands of the huge white birds
spend the early morning feeding and the
remainder of the day preening, bathing,
and languidly lounging.
Both groups of Lake Winnipeg islands have
been designated as Important Bird Areas
by the Canadian Nature Federation and Bird
Studies Canada (BirdLife International partners).
| Don't
Blame the Pelicans!
The notoriously gluttonous American
White Pelicans have a dubious
reputation among some fishers,
who view them as competition.
But studies in Manitoba have
revealed that 99% of the Pelican's
diet consists of stickleback
minnows, young perch, crayfish,
dragonfly larvae, and suckers.
Anglers can relax: only a few
trophy sports fish, such as
walleye, appear on the Pelican's
daily menu.
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American White Pelicans are the largest
of the 8 true species of pelicans, and the
only white pelicans in North America. Their
adult weight ranges from 5 - 8 kilograms,
and their wingspan can stretch as far as
3 metres. Although they may appear somewhat
sluggish and clumsy on shore, the Pelicans
are graceful and majestic in flight, soaring
on air currents and forming perfectly choreographed
migration lines.
In summer, on its Lake Winnipeg breeding
grounds, the bill of the Pelican turns bright
orange, matching the colour of its webbed
feet. A large yellowish pouch is connected
to the lower mandible of the bill, providing
the Pelican with a built-in dip-net for
scooping its prey from the water. As it
moves along the surface, it takes in both
water and fish. It then holds its bill vertically
to drain out the water (as many as 20 litres),
and tilts back its head to swallow the food.
American White Pelicans are colonial, cooperative
birds, often banding together in a line
or semi-circle to herd fish into the shallows.
Swinging their bills back and forth in the
clouded, churning water, the clever foragers
scoop, strain and swallow their way through
a dripping, squishing, splashing fish-feed.
Regurgitation provides young pelicans with
their fair share of food - hungry chicks
are sometimes observed reaching right into
a parent's gullet for their partially processed
meal.
American White Pelicans on the nesting
islands have to be counted at a distance.
Pelicans startle easily, and will abandon
an entire nesting colony if their security
is threatened.
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