All American Model

040409: The American White Pelican. Average weight 16# with a wing span up to 120" (10 ft!) Almost twice the size of the Pacific or Atlantic Brown Pelican found primarily along the coastal waters. These birds are big. We have some pelicans join us every spring and summer. Sometimes there are 20+ pelicans, sometimes just a few, and one year there were none. They stay near us because they know that the fishermen at our fish cleaning station provide them remnants from the fish.

This afternoon a solitary pelican waddled up the beach to the fish cleaning station and posed for me (it's my story!) When I didn't pay him with fish he took off for the water. Note the extra plumage and the horn on the upper beak, only seen during breeding season.