American White Pelican at Jamaica Bay
By Corey • July 18, 2010 • 10 commentsThe American White Pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos that was first reported from Jamaica Bay on Wednesday, 14 July, (and that I twitched on 15 July) was still present in the same spot as of yesterday. Those who have gone looking for it in the afternoon during or after the high tide have not seen it while those who have gotten there in the morning before the high tide have had the privilege of spotting the rare-for-New York bird. What will happen when the high tide coincides with morning is anyone’s guess but for the near term, if you want to see the bird, you should get there before noon.
That is what Seth and I did on Saturday after a flat tire spoiled our pelagic plans. We were pleased to see the pelican present in the same spot, and, joined by Brooklynite birder Heydi, we worked our way around to a more advantageous position to see the bird, in that we put the sun behind us and the bird closer and in front of us. This time the bird did more than preen; it sat there, preened, walked around a bit, swam a bit, and even flapped its wings on occasion. It was fun to watch one of the biggest birds out there interacting with other species (mostly this consisted of other birds getting out of the way) and great to get some better images of a bird I rarely get to see.
As the tide came up the pelican swam briefly, and even turned its head sideways and went after prey a couple of times, a fun thing to watch.
After its snack the pelican just wanted to preen a bit and rest.
You might notice in the picture above that the pelican’s left eye seems to be injured or missing (other birders noticed this and posted about it on the listserv). There is definitely something not-quite-right with the eye but the shot below shows that the eye is still there, though, after seeing some other photos taken by another photographer, it seems likely that the eye does not function.
The bird seems to be doing alright, even with the eye issue. Here’s hoping it sticks around for awhile until everyone who wants to see a pelican in Queens gets to see it!
This post has been submitted to Bird Photography Weekly #99. Go check it out!
Tags: Jamaica Bay, New York City, pelicans, Queens
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wow! how neat to see and be able to photograph that!
Hey NYC birders. Sorry to hijack the post (slightly) but I am coming out to New York early next month and flying into JFK. I’m very tempted by the proximity to Jamaica Bay and I don’t know if I’ll be able to take any dedicated birding trips back that way as I’ll be in Manhattan for the week. So here’s my question, how bad of an idea is it to try birding the Jamaica bay area with a roll-aboard suitcase? Kinda bad idea or really bad idea?
@Valerie: It was pretty neat.
@John: Parts might be doable but it wouldn’t be fun, as the paths that you could do with the suitcase are gravel. If you were there when the visitor center is open I bet you could convince a ranger to put your suitcase behind the counter, if you asked really, really, nicely.
Beautiful shots of the American White Pelican Corey. Don’t you feel special when you get to see a bird outside its normal range? The photos of the bird fishing are super! Nice catch!
Beautiful bird!
Awesome shots! I really need to go birding out there sometime. I really like the picture with the Skimmer in the foreground.
How wonderful! Thanks for the photos of this mega-bird.
Love the shot with the skimmer in it–very cool!
great serie of photos on the pelican.
Very cool. I know this post is old but I had to comment (I found my way here by way of a google search for red squirels) I live very near the Montezuma NY wildlife refuge and Mud Lock and had the priveledge once of seeing a white pelican in flight while watching the bald eagles on their nest. Its an amazing bird and was a treat to see.