Walking out to the western shore of Lake Erie, I peered over the rocky and sandy shoreline in search of shorebirds which began migrating through southeast Michigan over the past few weeks.
I thought I heard a sound above me and I was right!
When I looked up, I saw a flock of around 40 American White Pelicans soaring overhead, slowly flapping their broad wings.
If you look closely at their large orange bills in the photo, you’ll see a projection (kind of like a horn) on top of their bills. It’s only seen during breeding season.
I’m always excited to learn about nearby sightings. Over the past five years I’ve been lucky to have seen American White Pelicans along the Lake Erie shoreline and marshes.
They weren’t commonly found in our area, until recently when they extended their range into western Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
The American White Pelican range map on All About Birds still shows their typical breeding range in the US plains states, Minnesota, and prairie provinces of Canada.
Beautiful birds in flight!
