photo by Greg Hofmann

05/19/03: A group of American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) has been feeding in the slough for the last couple of weeks. They often work in groups, herding schools of fish before them, driving them into shallower water [as indicated by the nearby egrets], and dipping their bills to scoop them up – they do not dive for fish, like their brown cousins. Adults in breeding plumage grow a “centerboard” on the tops of their bills, as some of these birds are doing. While these pelicans use the slough for forage, they do not nest here, and it is not known if the adults in this group are nesting elsewhere.