While Feb. 23 severe weather spun off tornadoes throughout the South, these American White Pelicans found safe cover by the hundreds at Davis Pond Diversion in Ama.
According to Carolyn Atherton, curator of birds at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, these birds are found in many places all over the U.S., including Louisiana.
“Some will live in certain areas year round and other migrate across the U.S. When they do migrate, they tend to be in large groups.” They often land on a body of water (a lake or a river) for several days to eat and regain their strength before continuing their migration to favored nesting areas, Atherton said. “This might have been one very large group or even several groups that were forced to land due to the storm front. In that case they will look for any relatively safe looking large body of water,” she added.
“They are a neat kind of pelican—they are cooperative hunters.
They will form large circles on a body of water and then slowly close in the circle, driving panicky fish to the center of the circle so all the pelicans can then eat.”
Atherton said they have two of them at the zoo if anyone wants to see them close up. This pelican is one of North America’s largest birds.
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