Birbs of Saskatchetoon - American White Pelican

American White Pelicans are an established feature on the river by the weir in downtown Saskatoon all summer long. They can be sometimes be seen on other parts of the river, but you can almost always see them fishing by the weir. 

People around here get really excited around here about when the pelicans are going to return. The Meewasin Valley Authority organizes a contest every year letting people guess the day and hour they will return. There are volunteers from the Nature Society - and often people milling about with cameras for a few weeks in April waiting to capture pictures of the first Pelicans to return to the river by the weir. 

On Tuesday my mother reported to me by text having seen two Pelicans by the weir... I was a little suspicious of this claim. She didn't say if she'd walked down there or if it was while driving by (I'm guessing the latter). Has she seem a couple of big gulls? Was it just snow or ice? Or whitecaps on the river (it WAS a VERY windy day!). When I went out for a ride in the afternoon, I rolled past the weir for a look. 

No pelicans. 

If they HAD been there, I missed them... 

Wednesday, because I'd had an appointment within a few blocks of the weir, I popped by for a look. 

No Pelicans. 

Yes, that is snow. 

On April 20th. 

On Thursday I rolled past again. Most of the snow had melted and I avoided the dirt trails right down by the river because I figured they'd be pretty muddy. There was nothing at the weir, but from the weir... 

I spotted a white dot at the northern tip of the mid river sand-bar-turned-island just south (upstream) of the weir... 

I rode back up the Meewasin Trail and scrambled down the muddy bank to see if I could get a better look.

 Not much better... But with the binoculars, it was pretty clear it was an American White Pelican! 

Then while I was standing there, straining to get a better look at this one pelican huddled on the mid-river island... 

some movement caught my eye and I noted A WHOLE FREAKING FLOCK of fifteen or sixteen of them flew overhead!? 

They wheeled about a few times...

and I thought they might have landed by the weir!?  So I scrambled back up the muddy bank and rushed back to the weir... 

To find only one.... ONE!? 

I also just missed getting my camera out in time to catch it diving for food. It slowly floated down the weir to the other side of the river. 

She probably got better pictures than me... 

When I got to the other side, I noted a second pelican had joined the one on the island. 

There they are. 

It was still pretty windy and brisk - there had been a snowstorm the day before! So the two were huddled up against the wind. 

across the way I noticed a few other watchers - including a guy with a giant camera on a tripod! 

So... Pelicans.... 

American Whitle Pelican in the Birbs of Sasktachetoon Sketchbook.