[EBB Sightings] 3 American White Pelicans, Lake Merritt

On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:32:23 +0000, g.tepke at comcast.net (Glen Tepke) wrote:

>This morning three American White Pelicans were feeding in a tight group on the Lakeshore Ave. side of Lake Merritt in Oakland, near the Embarcadero.  One may have been the flightless long-term resident.  Does anyone know if more pelicans have been released from rehab into the lake, or could the other two have been wild, free-flying birds?

Yes, all three are wild birds.  The park naturalist Stephanie Benavidez
first noted them at 3:40 pm on 6/16/08 when they appeared by the sailboat
parking lot and first island. 

There are lots of American White Pelicans in the Bay Area right now and the
speculation is that they are failed breeders returning early.  

-- 
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044   jmorlan (at) ccsf.edu 
Birding Classes start Sep 9 in SF   http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/
California Bird Records Committee   http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc/