American White Pelican spotted in Lansing, Michigan

“Oh, a wondrous bird is the pelican, His bill can hold more than his belican, He can take in his beak, Food enough for a week, But I’m damned if I see how the helican.” --Dixon Lanier Merritt

I spotted a white pelican in the Grand River. I know that pelicans are in Florida. Did something happen to this bird and he flew in the wrong direction? ~ Lansing, MI

Image via WikipediaDon't worry, this happens in a lot in the fall. Many birds wander widely after the breeding season. The American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) breeds in some northern states and parts of Canada west of Michigan and then spends winters in the southern U.S. south to Panama.

They can weigh as much as 30 pounds and their wing spans can exceed nine feet. The American White Pelican eats about four pounds of fish a day. It hunts by scooping in a bill full of water and fish that expands a flexible pouch below. The water is drained and the fish are swallowed whole.

If you want to submit your unusual siting go to ebird.org. eBird shares these observations with a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists, and conservation biologists. In time the data will become the foundation for a better understanding of bird distribution across the western hemisphere and beyond.

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