Pelicans & Double-crested Cormorant on the Ohio River & Barren Creek

Like everyone else around here, I am very excited to see our Spring arrivals, but I want to feature these two migratory birds.

The American White Pelicans arrive in the Autumn by the hundreds at the Ohio River during their annual migration to the south and Mexico. With the enormous amount of shad in the Ohio River this year, they had quite a feast! The pelicans are 4 - 5' in length (with a 9' wingspan) and when fishing, they form a line in the water and swim toward the beach, beating the water with their wings and herding the fish ahead of them. Unlike Brown Pelicans, they do not dive.

When a friend stayed nearby at the Yellow House at Bay City (on the Ohio River) recently, we were visiting and saw the strangest thing. A pelican flew up into the air, with the rest following one by one...but the first pelican did this short "plummet" toward the water (but didn't reach it) and flew back up into the air, twice, with each pelican behind doing the same thing. It was so graceful and synchronized. If you've ever been to a sporting event and saw the crowds do "the wave", it was like that, but pelican style! What an awesome sight that was (and yes, we wished we had had the camera!!!).

The last photos David snapped of them were on April 4th when he was at the Ohio River and nearby Barren Creek, with an extra bonus of what appears to be a Double-crested Cormorant.

  

Sorry, I can't add photos of the Ohio River without a barge!

Back to our pelicans, on Barren Creek:

  

 

 

 

 

 

He also got a bit of video:

Another migratory bird that visits here is the Double-crested Cormorant. They are 2 1/2 - 3' in length and are commonly mistaken for Canada Geese. Instead of flapping steadily and honking as they fly, cormorants flap for a while and then sail, and are silent in flight. They fish by diving from the surface. One is here at Barren Creek with a pelican:

 

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In the photo below, the Double-crested Cormorant is flying away

  

 

Here is a bit of a better look:

While their visits here may be short, they are certainly delightful!