‘Snowbirds’

White pelicans

These winter-visiting waterfowl add their own twist to the term ‘snowbirds’

A small group of white pelicans seems to enjoy a foggy morning on the shimmering February waters of Lake Guntersville near Beech Creek.

Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, the American white pelican, is a surface feeder. They work together to herd baitfish, then scoop them up with uniquely designed beaks. A group of pelicans has many collective nouns, including a “brief,” “pod,’ “pouch,’ “scoop” and “squadron.”

Story by David Moore Photos by Liz Smith

Huge expanses of water, trophy fishing, boat races, gorgeous parks, Appalachian forests, rolling hills, ancient plateau walls, great people … Lake Guntersville boasts nearly boundless attractions.

But here’s an attraction most people don’t consider – fresh sushi. For free.

OK … this doesn’t entice lake-living real estate sales, nor is it a tourist magnet, at least not the human kind. But this abundant supply of “sushi” is the reason Lake Guntersville began attracting flocks of migrating American white pelicans – literal snowbirds.

The sushi bar is located immediately downstream of Guntersville Dam and other such powerhouses along our southern stretch of the Tennessee River. Playing sushi chef, as it were, are the spinning turbines that drive the hydroelectric process, chopping baitfish as they’re sucked through the plant’s waterways.

According to Mike Ezell, a retired naturalist from Lake Guntersville State Park, this spread of fish is what first enticed migrating white pelicans eastward into the Tennessee Valley about 2005. Prior to that, he says, their great birds’ migratory routes pretty much followed the Mississippi River basin, between the pothole lakes of the upper midwestern states and Canadian prairie provinces where they breed and nest in the summer to their winter habitats along the Gulf Coast.

“The sushi bar at the dam gets them here,” says Mike, who lives in Rogersville and laughingly self-titles himself as “naturalist emeritus.” “Once they’re here, the pelicans strike out up the tributaries. Flying 30 miles for a big bird is no big deal.”

Further downstream at Joe Wheeler Dam, the big whites roost overnight on islands and fly up nearby creeks to fish during the day, he says. Popular pelican fishing holes for birds at Guntersville Dam are the impoundments at Browns Creek and Big Springs, where they gather in large numbers and seem to enjoy the fellowship found in fishing and frolicking together.

Back in the day, white pelicans, along with egrets and others, were hunted

Two white pelicans take to the air. The California condor is the largest North American bird, followed by the American white pelican and the bald and golden eagles.

for feathers to adorn fashionable hats here and abroad. DDT and other chemicals later took a greater toll on the birds, many of which were granted protection under the Endangered Species Act. While white pelicans are not qualified as “threatened,” in the U.S. and Canada they are protected under the Migratory Bird Act.

The American white pelicans you see in the winter in Marshall County are part of the waterfowl’s eastern population. The western population migrates along the Pacific Coast. Both – along with their brown pelican cousins – have thrived with protection.

Because of their growing numbers, Mike says, the eastern whites have broadened their winter migratory range, extending out from the southern end of the Mississippi Valley into the Gulf Coast states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, and, to some extent, the Cumberland Valley.

“They usually show up around November and leave about the first of March, but some hang around,” Mike says. “Wheeler Wildlife Refuge sees about 2,000 come in.”

Other than obvious feather coloring, white pelicans differ in several ways from their brown cousins.

The browns, which do not migrate, usually travel in relatively small “squadrons,” gliding just over the shallow coastlines of the Gulf, Atlantic and Pacific. Once they spot fish, they climb and attack from on high, dive-bombing into the water with their long bills, every bird for itself.

A more gregarious lot, the whites tend to flock in larger groups and don’t dive bomb. Rather, like synchronized swimmers, they hunt in cooperative groups on the surface, forming a line to herd baitfish into the shallows, then dipping together, as if on cue, to scoop up their catch. It’s here that their famous pouch So ... is it trying – which expands between the bill and to be funny or neck – comes into play, the one that actually turning inspired this popular and partially true limerick: left? Either way, A wonderful bird is the pelican. the birds are His beak can hold entertaining. more than his belly can. He can hold in his beak enough food for a week, But I’ll be damned if I can see how the hell he can. He can because of what’s called a gular pouch. It’s made of reinforced, flexible skin, attached to jaw bones that not only open and close but spread out horizontally. The pouch opens under water like a fish net and scoops up the bird’s prey – along with about three gallons of water, which is more than its belly can hold.

But rather than store fish in the pouch, the water runs out as the birds tilt back their heads, and they swallow their catch whole.

Sporting wingspans up to 9.5 feet, these snowbird visitors to Marshall County are the second largest birds in North America. While they sometimes wreak havoc at catfish farms farther south, they are more benign visitors in these parts.

Mike refers to the white pelicans as “charismatic megafauna,” putting them in the same category as bald eagles, pandas and koala bears.

“The pelicans are pretty and graceful, cute and big, and that appeals to people. It’s an attraction a lot of people can’t resist.

“They are a welcomed edition,” he says, “to local waterfowl in North Alabama.”

Good Life Magazine

NOTE: Other sources include: Cornell University, allaboutbirds.org and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.