Marion County Lake harbors unusual feathered guest
Staff reporter
Marion County Lake has an unusual guest right now.
A lone American White Pelican has taken up residency at the lake — which is quite unusual.
Typically, pelicans travel in flocks and nest in colonies of several hundred pairs. They are known to migrate through the Midwest but not necessarily at the county lake.
"For whatever reasons, the pelicans tend to not stay at the lake," said Dale Snelling, county lake superintendent.
Snelling said it may be there are too many people and houses, and not enough open space.
But there is one pelican who has made the lake his home — at least for now.
Snelling said about 10 years ago, there was a white pelican that appeared to be injured and unable to fly.
"He stayed by the office and would go down to the water and eat fish," Snelling said. They named the bird Pelican Pete.
During the course of several weeks, Pelican Pete became stronger and began to show signs of recovery.
"He would spread his wings — like he was relearning to fly," Snelling said. Eventually Pelican Pete did take short flights around the lake — as if practicing for a longer flight.
One day, the wings were healed and the bird refreshed, and it flew away.
After that, every few years one, lone pelican will come to the lake and stay for a few weeks or months.
"I'm not sure if this is Pelican Pete at the lake right now or if it was Pelican Pete during the years," Snelling said. "Maybe he fell in love with the lake and decided to come back from time to time to enjoy it."
Regardless if this is Pete or Pete's distant relative, the sight is unusual.
Typically, the American White Pelican breeds in isolated areas from Manitoba, Canada, and Minnesota west to northern California. They migrate in early fall to winter grounds in California, Mexico, Central America, along the Gulf Coast, and Florida.
The large birds live on shallow, inland, freshwater lakes, wet prairies, and marshes in the summer, and coastal lagoons in the winter.
Unlike the brown pelican, the American White Pelican does not dive for food. Instead it practices cooperative fishing. Each bird eats more than four pounds of fish per day — mostly carp, chubs, shiners, perch, catfish, and jackfish.
Most flocks are wintering in warmer climates elsewhere, not a small lake in Kansas.
Distinct in appearance, the large bird typically is about four feet tall with a wingspan of about nine feet. It is entirely white except for black-edged wings that are visible when in flight. It has a long neck, long orange bill with an expandable pouch and short orange legs with big webbed feet.
The great white birds are clumsy on land but are good swimmers and graceful in flight. They fly in flocks in a long line, with their necks bent back over their bodies.
This species of bird is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1972.
The bird already has been here a month and Snelling doesn't know how much longer he might stay.
"I think he's feeding up to go south," Snelling said.
Regardless, bird watchers have enjoyed seeing the unusual guest. Happy flight, Pelican Pete!
