Hunt for the American Pelican
It was probably three years ago that I first stumbled across a video of American Pelicans on youtube just browsing one night and I knew that I needed a new adventure to go find them. However, at the time I thought pelicans were coastal creatures and living in Chicago I would never get to see them without a planned trip. However, it turns out that American Pelicans visit us twice a year! Life, not location, proved to be the harder of the two things to solve before I could finally find them.
Once I learned that these magnificent birds flock to the rivers south of Chicago each year, I decided I had to visit. I picked a day in April and unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. I got up early to a very overcast and gloomy sky but decided to go anyway. I had looked at the map and terrain multiple times to make a good guess at where the flock most likely would be, but when I got there all I found were American Coots - very different!
As the exposure shows, this morning proved to be very dull.
Nikon Z6iii • 500mm • f/4 • 1/500s • ISO 3600
I camped out a little bit with the coots just to watch them and see if anything else would show up at this location. Coots are fun to watch taking off since they tend to run across the water in a way different from most other birds. Since it was so dark I tried to capture a motion blur of them doing this.
Nikon Z6iii • 500mm • f/4 • 1/500s • ISO 2500
After an initial defeat I decided to walk around McKinley Woods and see if the pelicans were anywhere to be found. This perverse is located on a little peninsula on the Des Plaines confluence so you can see a large part of both rivers at this point.
This squirrel was a noisy little guy while he munched on his breakfast.
Nikon Z6iii • 700mm • f/5.6 • 1/800s • ISO 12800
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Always a winner, this robin came up to me as I sat on the side of the trail for a moment.
Nikon Z6iii • 700mm • f/5.6 • 1/250s • ISO 3200
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The American Goldfinch wasn't nearly as personable and stay very far away. I couple gave me a strange look as they walked by while I was lying on the ground inching toward the bird.
Nikon Z6iii • 700mm • f/5.6 • 1/500s • ISO 1600
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So, coots, goldfinches, robins and squirrels, but no pelicans! I sat down at a bench to figure out what to do next since I knew they were likely somewhere around me when another fellow birder came wandering by and asked me if perchance I had seen some cormorants. I actually had and I pointed the direction they flew by. What a weird little interaction at 6:30 in the morning so I asked if perchance she had seen some pelicans. And she said yes! They were at Wilmington Dam. Off I went on a drive 15 minutes down the river!
Nikon Z6iii • 700mm • f/5.6 • 1/640s • ISO 220
And there they were, about 40 of them out on an island right below the dam.
This one drifted by me as the the water pushed them down river. Once they got too far from the island they would all fly back and do it over again.
Nikon Z6iii • 700mm • f/5.6 • 1/640s • ISO 180
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The nine-foot wingspan of these birds is something you have to see in real life to appreciate.
Nikon Z6iii • 700mm • f/5.6 • 1/640s • ISO 220
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And that was my very first adventure with pelicans, but hopefully not my last. Maybe I’ll get another opportunity on a day with some really good light. They come back through in the fall so in the mean time there will be more adventures to come.
Enjoy nature every chance you can.