A few days ago Grace and I dropped Joey off at baseball practice and were driving back to our house along the lakefront. I pointed out a huge flock of what I thought were seagulls, flying in a long straight line. It caught my eye because I'd never seen seagulls fly in a line formation like that. As I got a little closer I was shocked at how big the seagulls appeared to be. Finally the birds were flying right over us and as I looked up I realized they weren't seagulls at all. They were PELICANS!!!!
Pelicans! In Wisconsin! I couldn't believe my eyes. I think I nearly crashed the minivan staring above me in disbelief. I slowed to a near stop and watched as the huge birds soared above us. There were dozens and dozens of the massive creatures.
And just like that they were gone. I didn't even have time to grab my travel camera from the glove box to sneak some pictures.
When I got home and told Todd I think he thought I was losing my mind. To reassure him (and me) of what I saw I looked in my bird book and, sure enough, pelicans do sometimes pass through our area. As further proof of what I saw I noticed people taking to Facebook to report the bizarre sighting. Whew! I wasn't losing my mind! There are pelicans in Wisconsin!
Now all I have to do is figure out what kind of bird food to leave out in my backyard so I can add pelican pictures to my bird posts. Oh how I would LOVE to add pelicans to my bird photo repertoire. What do ya think? Dead fish? Might not be the best addition to the backyard.
(Pictures courtesy of the internet)
12 comments:
That's crazy!
I'm thinking maybe frozen dead fish? LOL
Yes, I remember as a child on a farm in Colorado asking my dad why we had seagulls in the field! Birds can cover lots of ground and with climate change animals are moving to where the food is. As we know, there are fewer and fewer fish for us all.
That is crazy cool! Dontcha love FB for people's posts like that?
I saw two Eastern Bluebirds yesterday. Always a thrill as they are rather elusive here.
Those pelicans "winter" on our lake in Central Texas. They arrive in November and leave late March and early April. Tons of them. Black cormorants hang with them also. They don't get too close to our dock preferring the deeper side of the lake across from us.
A few summers back, I visited Yellowstone and saw a great flock of them there. Wondered if they were my wintering Pelicans. Perhaps those you saw had been by my house as well. Fun post.
They are also different colored than the pelicans here which tend to be grayer and not white like this. I think you need a big fish pond with live fish :)
What a cool sighting!
Its like God arranged it that you would be there right at the perfect time to be able to see them :)
betty
Another interesting bird to add to your "life list". My favorite, seen once in a great while in our area, is the pileated woodpecker.
I thought they were seagulls, too....I had to look very closely! I never would have thought pelicans were in WI!
A pond with goldfish might do it.
I laughed because that is our state bird! Come on down to LA and I'll show you LOTS of pelicans! ;D
That. is. amazing!!!!
How incredibly cool! I would be equally stunned to see them around here... and I'd be really peeved that I didn't have my camera. ;)
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