I saw something rather amazing on Sunday, 15 Sep. We were eating lunch in
a little cafe in South Bend, Pacific Co., and looked across the river to
see a bunch of Brown Pelicans all of a sudden dive into a pond. It is a
sewage-treatment pond(!), and the pelicans seemed to be feeding there.
There were at least 40, the great majority immatures, and they kept flying
up a few yards and diving back into the water. On a few occasions it
seemed as if they were swallowing something, but most dives ended with no
obvious swallowing motions. The cafe people said there aren't any fish in
the ponds, as far as they know.

The birds roosted on the edge of the pond when they weren't feeding, and we
saw birds both come and go from the salt water downriver, so the pond was
clearly a "destination." The birds were feeding (attempting to feed?)
desultorily until a sudden squall hit, with hard rain, then about 80% of
them immediately got up and started to feed vigorously. They were clumped,
all diving into the same small part of the pond. Inexplicable behavior to
me. I can't imagine Brown Pelicans feeding on the tiny critters (up to the
size of water boatmen) that are often abundant in sewage ponds, but there
they were. Dumb and dumber?

This is a first for me. Anyone driving by South Bend should check it out.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416