Pelicans, Brown and White

A Brown Pelican (Pelicanus occidentalis) soaring
over the bay at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

In 1910, Dixon Lanier Merritt, American educator, journalist, poet and ornithologist published the beloved limerick:

A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His bill will hold more than his belican,

He can take in his beak

Enough food for a week

But I'm damned if I see how the helican!

Mr. Merritt got to the heart of pelican uniqueness, that extravagant beak.  Pelicans plunge dive or scoop up a volume of water from the surface that contains fish or other small animals.  They force the water out of the pouch and swallow their food.  But there are other fascinating aspects of pelican life to consider.  There are eight species of pelicans in the world and they range from the tropics to temperate areas.  Pelicans are found along seacoasts and the interior of all continents except South America and Antarctica.  The name pelican is derived from the Greek word for axe and that axe is the beak.  The pelican was an important symbol in medieval Christianity.  Female pelicans were thought to pierce their own breasts and feed their young of the blood.  The bleeding pelican is an iconic image found in cathedrals throughout Europe. 

Brown Pelicans and White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) on a sandbar. 
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas 

In North America, we are blessed with two species of pelicans, the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) and the American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).  The scientific name of the Brown Pelican means “western pelican” since its distribution is limited to the New World.  The scientific name of the White Pelican means “red-nosed pelican”.  While the American White Pelican’s beak is not exactly red, it is bright yellow. 

Brown Pelican at Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina.
This is an immature bird with a brown head and neck. 

Brown Pelicans are found along the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of North America, the American tropics and the Galapagos Islands.  They are not a strongly migratory species but they will wander after nesting.   Brown Pelicans are large with a wingspan of over six feet.  Their overall color is brown, with a white head and neck.  The top of the head turns yellow in the breeding season.  Brown Pelicans are gregarious and are often seen flying in vee-formations along the shoreline.  They also nest is groups, sometimes on small islands.  One such nest island is in the Indian River on the Atlantic coast of Central Florida.  Named Pelican Island, this tiny dot of sand and mangrove and has an outsized role in the history conservation.  Pelican Island was designated first National Wildlife Refuge in the country at the opening of the 20^th century.  At that time, plume hunters provided feathers for ladies’ hats and were destroying bird rookeries throughout southern Florida.  Pelican Island and several Audubon Society refuges in Florida marked the beginning of modern bird protection.  As populations of Brown Pelicans recovered from hunting, another threat arose.  The insecticide DDT came into widespread use in the latter half of the 20^th century.  This toxin washed into waterways, found its way into the food chain and reached dangerous levels in top predators like the Brown Pelican.  One of the most pernicious effects of DDT was it interfered with eggshell production.  Pelicans still mated and laid eggs but the shells of these eggs were so thin the parents broke the eggs while incubating.  Brown Pelican numbers crashed because of DDT and the bird was placed on the Federal Endangered Species list.  With the banning of DDT in the 1970's, Brown Pelican populations have rebounded and it is now listed as a species of least concern. 

An American White Pelican at High Rock Dam in Rowan County, North Carolina.
This pelican has the horn on the upper beak indicating
the onset of the breeding season.

American White Pelicans, with their 9-foot wingspans, are even larger than Brown Pelicans and second only in size to California Condors in North America.  American White Pelicans are white with black flight feathers.  Their legs are orange and the large beak is yellow.  During the breeding season, American White Pelicans develop a horn on the top of their beak.  Male and female pelicans both grow the horn and it falls off after the female lays her eggs.  The distribution of American White Pelicans reflects their highly migratory nature.  American White Pelicans breed on inland lakes and rivers in Central and Western US states and north into Canada.  These pelicans winter from Florida to California to Mexico and Central America.   

Two American White Pelicans landing in the Yadkin River below
High Rock Dam, Rowan County, North Carolina

A flock of American White Pelicans along with Double-crested Cormorants
in the Yadkin River at High Rock Dam, Rowan County, North Carolina

Visits to the southern coast allow us to see Brown Pelicans in any season and American White Pelicans during the winter.  Here on the Piedmont of North Carolina we are lucky enough to be in the migratory pattern of American White Pelicans.  A few miles from our house is a hydroelectric dam across the Yadkin River that forms High Rock Lake.  Each February, dozens of American White Pelicans stop below the dam and catch fish in the raceway.  The pelicans are already showing small horns on their beaks in February and so they are getting ready to breed.  These gigantic white birds, bobbing in the river, fascinate the fishermen who are amazed they don’t have to go to the beach to see pelicans.  This is a brief stop on American White Pelican’s long flight to the breeding grounds,  but I am always pleased to see them.    

American White Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants at High Rock Dam,
Rowan County, North Carolina

The Winter of Monarchs

Monarchs (Danaus plexipus) are iconic butterflies.  They are the most charismatic of lepidopterans and they have captured the imagination of North Americans.  First, they are brilliantly colored and patterned; orange with black stripes and white spots.  Second, their caterpillars eat and thrive on toxic milkweed plants (Asclepius sp.).  Finally, they undertake the most epic of insect migrations.  Each year several generations of Monarch Butterflies do a serial migration from Central Mexico to the Northern United States and Southern Canada and back. 

A Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexipus) resting on the trunk of an Oyamel (Abies religiosa) tree
at the El Rosario Sanctuary in Michoacan, Mexico

We have seen all the stages of the Monarch life cycle from egg to caterpillar to adult, throughout the US.  We have also seen small parts of their migration.  In September Monarchs pass south through North Carolina.  The migration is more dramatic at gaps along the Blue Ridge Parkway with dozens of butterflies steaming through a mountain gap in an hour. 

In the mid-1970s, after decades of searching, researchers announced that millions of Monarch Butterflies spend the winter high in the fir forests of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt west of Mexico City.  This winter, Diane and I went with another naturalist couple to Mexico see this final piece if the Monarch story.  To close the circle on the Monarch life cycle.

After spending a day enjoying the cultural splendors of Mexico City we piled into a 15-passenger van with our driver and guide for the three hour drive to the mountain town of Angangueo in the state of Michoacán.  This former mining boom town is now ground zero for Monarch viewing.  Our first stop was the Sierra Chincua Monarch Sanctuary north of Angangueo.  After paying our fees, we mounted horses and rode them about halfway to the butterfly colony.  A guide accompanies every group that ascends the mountain.  This arrangement keeps visitors on the trails and provides income for people living in the area.  

Oyamel trees in the Sierra Chincua Sanctcuary, Michocan, Mexico

As we gained altitude, we entered the fog that shrouded the mountaintops and the temperature dropped. Leaving the horses, we continued to climb on foot through a moist montane forest.  Large trees including pines and broad-leafed species gave way to Oyamel, the Sacred Fir (Abies religiosa).  The understory of the forest had a variety of sage species in flower, a yellow composite and abundant mosses and lichens.  Finally, at over 10,000 we reached the butterflies.  They coated the Oyamel trunks and hung in pendulous bunches from limbs.  The temperature was in the low 50s and the humidity was 100%.  These conditions allow the Monarchs to live for months during the winter rather than the weeks typical of the butterflies in the breeding season.  We saw many butterflies through the mist and they were all resting and conserving their energy.

We visited another Monarch Sanctuary near Angangueo called El Rosario.  El Rosario was the most developed of the sanctuaries.  Shops, food stands, souvenir vendors and an impressive gate with a butterfly theme welcomed us.  Even the restrooms had butterflies enameled in the sink.  

El Rosario Sanctuary gate, Michoacan, Mexico

Butterfly sink at El Rosario Sanctuary.

Rather than ride the horses up the mountain we decided to hike.  Our guide, Pepe, was knowledgeable and very enthusiastic.  He learned we were also interested in birds and pointed out many along the trail including the impressive Red Warbler (Cardellina ruber).  This tiny bird is bright red with silver cheek patches and is abundant in the forests where the Monarchs winter.  There were also many hummingbirds including the Mexican Violetear (Colibri thalassinus).  

Red Warbler (Cardellina ruber).  El Rosario Sanctuary, Michoacan, Mexico.

Mexican Violetear (Colibri thalassinus).  

As we reached the tall Oyamels we could see the large bunches of Monarchs hanging from limbs and dead butterflies littered the ground.  Some had probably died of natural causes but some were missing their abdomen.  This is a sign the butterflies were eaten by birds.  Avian predators usually avoid Monarchs because the milkweed toxins ingested by the caterpillars are retained in the adults after metamorphosis.  But, two species of birds in these mountains, Black-backed Orioles (Icterus abeillei) and Black-headed Grosbeaks (Pheucticus melanocephalus) eat monarchs.   

Monarch Butterflies on Oyamel trunks and limbs.
El Rosario Sanctuary, Michoacan, Mexico.

Dead Monarchs, El Rosario Sanctuary, Michocan, Mexico.

Not all is rosy for the Monarchs or the people who work to offer them sanctuary.  The number of Monarchs wintering in these mountains has been in a long-term decline.  The usual suspects are to blame; habitat loss, pesticides, climate change.  People that defend monarchs are also at risk.  The director of the El Rosario Sanctuary was murdered days before we arrived.  A former guide at the Sanctuary was killed while we were in Mexico.  The poverty and economic interests to convert forest to agricultural land are pressuring the wintering grounds of the Monarchs.  There is some good news, wintering Monarch numbers have increased in the last few years, perhaps because of milkweed plantings in the US and Canada.

Monarchs resting on Oyamel trunks and flying. 
Pierda Herrada Sanctuary, Mexico, Mexico.

While it was impressive to see hundreds of thousands of Monarch Butterflies resting on tree trunks and branches, we had hoped to see them flying.  The weather had not cooperated so far. However, we had one more sanctuary to visit.  In Mexico State, Piedra Herrada Sanctuary is in the mountains above Valle de Bravo.  We hiked to the butterfly roosts at this sanctuary and it turned out to be the longest and steepest walk.  After two hours on the trail and numerous stops to enjoy the plants, birds and to breathe, we made it to the Monarchs.  The day was warm and sunny.  The forest in this sanctuary was more open and diverse than the first two we visited and the butterflies were flying.  

Monarchs feeding on a yellow composite.  Piedra Herrada, Mexico, Mexico.

Monarchs were flying high and low, landing on people, sipping nectar from the abundant flowers and putting on a fantastic show.  However, this was not a show for our benefit.  When their internal body temperature get high enough the butterflies must feed on nectar to replenish their energy supplies.  They need the energy because in late February the Monarchs begin to reproduce and begin their migration north.  The Monarchs leave their winter mountain refuges, lay eggs on milkweed plants in Northern Mexico and the Southern US and die.   Their offspring continue the migration and complete the circle. 

Monarchs on Oyamel branches, Piedra Herrada Sanctuary, Mexico, Mexico.