PELICANS WING UP NORTH

Don't mind the Pelecanus erythrorhynchos. It's just passing through.

American white pelicans have been sighted winging their way over the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve this week in a northerly direction. A good guess of where they're headed, according to one observer familiar with their migratory habits, is for their summer nesting grounds at Pyramid Lake in Northern Nevada.

A big breeding colony traditionally flocks to the protective terrain of Anaho Island to hatch their young from nests on the ground a safe distance from predators such as coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions.

American white pelicans can fly long distances for a bird that weighs upwards of 15 pounds, traveling hundreds of miles in a stretch. And, sometimes, they do stop over at the Henderson preserve's water reclamation ponds, said John Hiatt, conservation chairman of Red Rock Audubon Society, a local chapter of the national organization.

"They do land there but they don't stick around a lot because there's not a lot of fish for them," he said Thursday.

Such is life for hungry waterfowl in the Mojave Desert, with few exceptions including at fish-stocked lakes Mead and Mohave. Others thrive in similar surroundings at the Salton Sea in Southern California's Imperial Valley, a home for smaller brown pelicans whose numbers decades ago had dwindled because of the harmful effects of pesticide production at plants near Los Angeles.

The flocks of white pelicans that arrived at the Henderson preserve on Memorial Day weekend numbered 22. They were preceded a few weeks ago by 17.

An American white pelican, according a National Audubon Society reference book, "The Sibley Guide to Birds," is "immense, always white with black flight feathers and pinkish or yellow-orange bill.

Hiatt said more than 4,000 white pelicans were reported seen last week along the Truckee River delta at Pyramid Lake.

"Historically, they have gone to Walker Lake to feed on a daily basis. And they also go to the San Francisco Bay Area," Hiatt said.

"They fly over to feed and fly back. They are very efficient fliers and gliders and cover long distances," he said.

Unlike brown pelicans that plunge through the air and dive for fish, white pelicans, Hiatt said, get in groups to herd fish from the water's surface "and then scoop them up."

He said it's not unusual to see flocks of white pelicans along the central California coast in the winter, where they can be seen year-round.

Many, however, migrate from their winter grounds in Mexico across the Western United States to summer breeding ranges at inland, freshwater lakes as far north as Minnesota and Canada.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.