Dave,
I was at Knox Marsellus marsh briefly on Saturday morning and I watched the
pelican feed while it was swimming across the shallow pool. It would lower its
head almost completely underwater while slowly swimming forward. After a few
seconds, it would raise its head up and swallow whatever was unfortunate enough
to be in its path. It did this multiple times and at one point swallowed on 9
consecutive attempts. I wondered what it was eating, but I could never really
see what it was picking up.
Sent from my iPhone
Mickey Scilingo
315-679-6299
On Jul 29, 2013, at 12:35 AM, Dave Nutter wrote:
> This evening the AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN again spent most of its time standing
> and preening, but toward sunset I saw it swim a couple times, then stand in a
> new place in the water and preen some more - especially under the wings,
> which emphasizes the bizarre shape of this bird. During one of the swims it
> also tried feeding by stretching its neck forward low to the water, rotating
> its head 90°, and laterally biting the water ahead of it. I did not see it
> obviously catch anything, nor did it seem very enthusiastic in this brief
> activity. I imagine that a solo bird is at a disadvantage if it typically
> feeds with a group of pelicans all herding fish into the shallows before
> dipping them up. Such a massive bird must need a lot of food, and I haven't
> heard other reports of it feeding.
>
> Does anyone know who found the American White Pelican on 20 July? Mark Miller
> said it was reported to him around 2pm when he was volunteering at the
> Montezuma NWR headquarters, but he didn't know the name of reporter or
> finder, and no one has reported it to eBird on this date. Earliest observer
> gets their name on the Cayuga Lake Basin 2013 First Records list, along with
> all the associated fame & glory.
> --Dave Nutter
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