NY Most Wanted: American White Pelican

The star of this issue of our Rare Bird Profile is the American White Pelican.  On a global scale it is not endangered, however if you see one on the East Coast of the US you are very lucky.

The American White Pelican is one of the largest birds in North America.  Males and females share the same markings (completely white with black wing tips). They spend their winters along the Pacific and Gulf coasts and summer inland, breeding in Canada and along the northern American West Coast.   

One interesting quirk of the American White Pelican is their reluctance to fly over the open ocean on migration.  They will fly over deserts, mountains and vast expanses of land, but avoid the open water. 
Some White Pelicans have been blown off course by hurricanes and found themselves in the Eastern Caribbean and Eastern South America.

Unlike their more-famous cousin, the Brown Pelican, the American White Pelican does not dive underwater to hunt.  Instead they dip their heads under the water to catch fish, and herd together to push fish to one another.

After suffering a large population decrease in the mid 1900's thanks to industrial pesticides like DDT, the species has come back strong and populations are thriving throughout North America.