By Jeanne Church
I had never seen a pelican in real life until I visited Florida for the very first time in January of 2016. Florida has both brown pelicans and American white pelicans. The brown pelicans are year-round residents in Florida but the American whites only visit during the winter months. Once the spring weather sets in, they start heading north to their breeding grounds.
I was not surprised to find white pelicans in Florida, but I was surprised to find them in Colorado on a subsequent vacation. When I read that we also have white pelicans in Michigan, I wondered how that could possibly be!
Some white pelicans spend their winters on the southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts while others choose the Mexican or Californian coasts. Historically, these birds migrate north into central Canada, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Other white pelicans migrate to their breeding grounds in Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and northern California. Why did they start coming farther east to Michigan and other nearby states?
Some pelicans may have ended up here by getting blown off course during their long migratory journey but others may have decided to come here on purpose! Ever since the white pelican’s resurgence in the mid-1970s after near total extinction, they have been gradually expanding their northward migration to include more eastern states like Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan!
There have been confirmed sightings of white pelicans in Michigan as far back as 1990. Several years later, there were confirmed sightings of white pelican nests on the southern edge of the Upper Peninsula in Delta County along Lake Michigan. At that time Michigan was at the extreme eastern edge of the white pelican’s migratory route, and well south of its normal breeding grounds. By 2019, there were documented sightings even farther east. In an article by Eric Freedman (Capital News Service, Lansing, Michigan) the American white pelican had established a nest-hold in western Lake Erie for the first time and it looked like that they would expand their breeding grounds into Lake Ontario as well. Maybe these beautiful birds will be with us for the long term!
The significance of pelicans finding a home in Michigan is monumental! Just like many other bird species, the American white pelican is an outstanding indicator of the health of any given ecosystem. According to Patrick Doran, former assistant state director for The Nature Conservancy in Michigan, their presence here indicates that our Great Lakes are healthy and that there are enough fish for the birds to feed on.
If you set out to find white pelicans in Michigan, the most reliable place to go is the Pointe Mouillee State Game Area in Monroe County, according to Holly Vaughn at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division. Hundreds of American white pelicans have been spotted there, particularly during the month of May. Pointe Mouillee State Game Area is located on the western edge of Lake Erie, about two hours from Kalamazoo.
If you’re looking for a place on the western side of the state, you can try the Arcadia Marsh Preserve in Arcadia, between Frankfort and Manistee. In July of 2018, a few very observant birders spotted a well-camouflaged white pelican mixed in with a large group of mute swans. You could be the next lucky birder to find one!
The American white pelicans will start arriving in various places around Michigan during the month of March and leave sometime between September and November. For real-time data about where these birds are currently located in our state, download the free eBird app; an online database of bird observations from all over the world made by ordinary people. You can even add your own sightings and become part of a global community of citizen scientists contributing valuable information about current bird distribution and abundance across the planet.
Enjoy!