Cape Sable Island white pelican causing flurry among birders
In mid-October, white pelicans are typically seen from Western Canada to Panama. This bird should be somewhere west of the Mississippi.
Some birds are worth getting up at 4:30 a.m. to see.
Jason Dain drove two-and-a-half hours from Upper Tantallon to Centreville, Cape Sable Island, Shelburne County, on Oct. 17, arriving at 7:15 a.m. to see a white pelican perched on a rock sleeping.
“It did that for quite a while, only lifting its head up periodically to look around,” he said.
As the bird slumbered, then awoke, Dain was busily snapping with his Nikon d500 DSLR camera, using a 500f4 lens and 1.4x teleconverter on a tripod.
Alix d’Entremont, who (along with Murray Newell) represents Shelburne and Yarmouth counties for the Nova Scotia Bird Society, says American white pelicans don’t come every year to Nova Scotia, but the one at Cape Sable Island is actually the fourth one this year to arrive in the southwest part of the province. Jerome d’Eon saw three in Overton, Yarmouth County, on Aug. 24.
“The last record for the area before this year was of two in Pubnico harbour on Dec. 7, 2015 – the latest ever recorded in Nova Scotia,” says d’Entremont.
There was also an American white pelican at Pembroke in June 2012. The pelican at Cape Sable Island would be the 19th recorded for the province outside of a hurricane-brought group of 50 in Kings County in 1948. Johnny Nickerson, a birder on Cape Sable Island, believes it’s the first recorded for the island, which matches the results of d’Entremont’s research.
Because there hasn’t been a recent one recorded near Halifax, most of the newer birders from there would not have seen one.
These pelicans breed in the western/middle portion of Canada and the U.S. and migrate south to the southern U.S., Mexico and Central America, mostly staying west of the Mississippi River.
D’Entremont says this individual is a migrant that has travelled farther east than is typical.
“As long as it is not injured and is well fed, it should have no problems surviving a little while on Cape Sable Island, since they can be found in the northern U.S. and Canada into November,” says d’Entremont.
“They feed mostly on small schooling fish, but also take larger bottom feeders, salamanders, tadpoles and crayfish. It scoops prey into its pouch then swallows it.”
In mid-October, there are American white pelicans being seen from Western Canada to Panama. This bird should be somewhere west of the Mississippi, says d’Entremont.
Dain says he’s seen many out west in his travels but never one in Nova Scotia.
Yarmouth-based photographer Ervin Olsen says it’s very exciting to see this beautiful and rare bird in the area.
“I hope it stays long enough so that other folks will get to share the excitement as well,” he says.