Number of American white pelicans overwintering at Isabella Lake has multiplied | News

Rather than seeing a few dozen of these majestic inland waterfowl, which had long been the norm at the lake, this winter and last, the pelicans began arriving by the hundreds.

“Last March, I was putting away my windsurfing gear one late afternoon, and spotted pelicans swimming toward me single file. There were many, so I started counting — and eventually quit to run and grab my camera after I had gone past 200, with more coming,” Hollmann said.

The long-beaked water birds had been feeding on trout that had been planted that morning in a little cove immediately downwind of her.

After she was able to capture several photos, the pelicans suddenly flew off all at once.

“An amazing experience,” she remembered.

American white pelicans are easily distinguished from brown pelicans — the species often seen on California’s Central Coast — by their white plumage with black flight feathers and yellow bills and legs, said Abigail Gwinn, a wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Brown pelicans rarely stray far from the coast, Gwinn said in an email.

But American white pelicans “are an inland species and breed in the interior of North America on islands of shallow lakes and wetlands,” she said. “The pelicans we are seeing at Isabella Lake could be from any of the inland breeding colonies.”

These water birds can fly long distances.

“Pelicans that breed at Pyramid Lake in Nevada have been documented flying over the Sierra Nevada to forage in the Central Valley during the nesting season with active nests,” Gwinn said.

Of course, Isabella Reservoir did not exist before the 1950s when Isabella Dam was completed. But pelicans once had rich habitat across the state, including in Kern County.

“Thousands of white pelicans once nested in California’s historic lakes prior to European colonization, including Tulare Lake,” Gwinn said.

Breeding colonies were also known to be at Buena Vista Lake, south of Bakersfield, until the 1950s.

“Habitat destruction through water diversion and land reclamation for agriculture and development greatly reduced nesting habitat, which reduced white pelican populations,” she said. “California’s nesting white pelicans are now primarily found in the Klamath Basin, though they use other water bodies throughout the state for foraging and roosting habitat during the nonbreeding season.”

Gwinn seemed pleased with Hollmann’s photo, as it backed up her pelican count at Isabella.

Neil Clipperton, who works with Fish and Wildlife’s Non-Game Migratory Bird Program, said there are regular counts of white pelicans as part of the monitoring strategy for the western population of the species.

Official population monitoring for white pelicans is focused on breeding colonies with surveys conducted via air-, water-, and ground-based techniques.

The most recent population survey results show no indication of a growing population of white pelicans.

“The number at Lake Isabella might be higher than typical, but it’s impossible to know whether that number will grow, shrink, or how long the birds will remain at the lake before moving on,” Clipperton said.

One thing he was sure of: “White pelicans do not breed at Isabella. They are seeking food and roosting habitat during the nonbreeding season.”

There has definitely been a shift in their habits, Hollmann said of the local pelicans.

“Until 2021, our winter visitors would, without fail, leave come March and April, to return in October,” she said.

“This past summer was the first time a few of them elected to stay over and spend their summer with us as well.”

That’s not unusual, Gwinn said.

“White pelicans usually return to their inland nesting areas in March, though small numbers of nonbreeding birds may summer locally.”

Are there any concerns that their feeding could deplete native trout or other species?

“White pelicans mainly feed on small schooling fish but also eat bottom feeders, salamanders and crayfish,” Gwinn said. “Prior to protections in 1918, fear of competition for sport fish led to the shooting of pelicans.

“While they do eat fish,” Gwinn said, “white pelicans will not deplete the lake of fish.”

White pelicans are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. They are also designated as a Species of Special Concern by Fish and Wildlife.

On Friday afternoon, the wind died early, so Hollmann packed up her windsurfing gear and, picker in hand, began cleaning up “microtrash” along the beach near Auxiliary Dam.

“I love watching the birds,” she said, “but my overriding motive is guilt. I found a dead coot on my beach 12 years ago, fishing tackle wrapped around its leg and beak.”

It’s infuriating enough that we humans foul our own nest, but that we muck up this planet for the animals we are sharing it with, is utterly unacceptable, she said.

That’s why she likes to take kids along on her “trash walks” and explain the implications of littering and not packing out what you packed in.

“That’s why I love to share my bird pics,” she said, in the hope that people will think of them as “creatures that warrant our consideration.”