Birders,

The pelican mini-invasion continues. For the last two days (June 4 and 5),
there was one pelican at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal in Delta. Today,
from about 1 to 1:30 PM, there were TWO pelicans there, which appeared
to be one immature and one adult. (The lighting was not the best,
coming from behind the birds.)

Both pelicans were sitting on the large dolphin (cluster of pilings) on the
south side of the ferry terminal, next to the north end of the rock
breakwater. When I arrived, one pelican (the immature) was actively
preening, and the other appeared to be sound asleep-- just a big lump of
brown feathers. After a few minutes, it woke up and began preening too.
After 10 minutes or so, the adult suddenly took off, sailed out of sight
to the north around the end of the terminal, but within a minute, came back
and landed again on the same dolphin. At least at times, a pelican's life
is a lazy one.

There has been a flurry of recent pelican sightings nearby, including
sightings at Sandheads (the mouth of the Fraser River), Point Roberts,
Bellingham Bay, and several places in Puget Sound. Obviously, there
are several birds involved in this "mini-invasion".

The timing of these sightings is odd-- over the years, most of our
sightings in this area have been in the late summer and fall, not in June.

Oh, by the way, this was only my second-ever sighting of Brown Pelican
in BC and in Canada. Most of the sightings in the Vancouver area
have been very brief sightings, often fly-bys, and I've had a heck of a
time catching up with them!

Good luck and good birding,

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net