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Articles

Pelicans Nesting on Lake Nipigonby

Susan Bryan

On 17 June 1991, three nests of theAmerican White Pelican IPelecanuserythrorhynchosl were discovered onPretty Island in Lake Nipigon,Thunder Bay District lsee Map 11.Until now, Ontario's only knownpelican nest site has been on Lake ofthe Woods near the Manitoba borderlGodfrey 1986, Theberge 1989). Withthe discovery of this new location onLake Nipigon, the known breedingrange of the American White Pelicanin North America is extended 500 kmto the east.

The pelicans were observed by agroup of six birders IMike Bryan,Dave Elder, Nick Escott, MyraMcCormick, George Williams, andthe author). The group was on a fiveday birding expeditioncircumnavigating Lake Nipigon.

On 17 June, the second day ofour voyage, we approached PrettyIsland in McIntyre Bay IFigure 1).The island is about 2 km from thenearest mainland shore. It is a raised,largely bare, rocky island measuringabout 8 m by 15 m. On the higherground, among large squaredhoulders, are patches of thin baresoil. Still standing in this soil aresome small, dead, deciduous treesand bushes, now quite bare offoliage. As we approached, a numberof Double-crested CormorantsIPhalacrocorax auritusl and HerringGulls lLarus argentatusl flew up from

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the rock. Sitting on the highest partof the island were three unmistakableAmerican White Pelicans.

As we approached more closely,the pelicans took flight, circlingtogether around the island. All threebirds displayed the typical adultplumage of the American WhitePelican. One of the birds had anoticeable orange fibrous plateprotruding like a keel on the uppermandible Icharacteristic of a breedingadult I. The other two birds lackedthis keel. All three birds showedblack discoloration on top of thehead. This black discoloration ischaracteristic of adults which arefeeding young IFigure 21·

We went ashore and proceeded tothe spot from which we had seen thepelicans take off. This was on thehighest part of the island, on a flatpatch of spongy soil between a fewsquared boulders. Here we foundthree large circular nests, two orthree times the diameter of thenumerous Herring Gull nestselsewhere on the island IFigure 31.We estimated the nest rim diameterat approximately 50 cm. The nestswere nothing more than shallowdepressions in the soil with a slightlyraised rim of dirt. In two of the neststhere were eggs -- two large whiteeggs, heavily nest-stained, in each.The third nest was of the same sizeand appearance, but contained no

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LAKE NIPIGON BREEDING BIU) SUWEY

-_-. ROUTE· JUNE 16·21.1991

SCALE 1:50,000

KI.OMETERS

25I

Map 1: Lake Nipigon Breeding Bird Survey Route, 16-21 June 1991.Map drawn by David H. Elder.

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Figure 1: Pretty Island, McIntyre Bay, Lake Nipigon. Three American WhitePelican nests were discovered here. Photo by Susan Bryan.

Figure 2: Adult American White Pelican flying with Double-crested Cormorants.Photo by Susan Bryan.

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eggs. The three nests were closetogether, about a half metre of baresoil between them.

These three nests were quitedifferent from the numerous HerringGull and Double-crested Cormorantnests elsewhere on the island. Therewere approximately 50 Herring Gullnests (sparsely lined depressions onthe bare rock with heaped up edgesof moss and lichen) generally locatedlower on the island, near the waterline. These nests contained brownisheggs with irregular dark brownsplotches, and some downy chicks.Higher up on the rocks wereapproximately 100 heaped up sticknests containing the pale greenish­blue eggs of the Double-crestedCormorants. The nests of these twospecies were much smaller and ofcompletely different constructionthan the pelican nests. Their egg size

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and coloration were also completelydifferent.

During the remainder of theexpedition, we sighted pelicans onthree other occasions. Later on thesame day, 17 June, at Krug Bay westof Mooney Point in McIntyre Bay, afurther 11 pelicans were seen. Therewas no evidence of nesting at thissite, and the birds seen were in non­breeding adult plumage (that is, nofibrous plate on the upper mandible,and no black on top of the head).Two days later, on 19 June, near theWhitesand River mouth, a group ofseven American White Pelicans wasseen soaring in a westerly directionover the northern part of the lake.Later that same day, on a small rockyisland in Windigo Bay, nine pelicansin non-breeding adult plumage wereseen. No nests were observed here.This brought the total to 30 pelicans

Figure 3: One of three American White Pelican nests discovered on Pretty Island,Lake Nipigon. Photo by Susan Bryan.

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seen during the expedition.A previous breeding bird survey

of Lake Nipigon, completed by L. L.Snyder (1928) during the summers of1923/24, noted no pelicans on the

lake during four months of fieldwork. The first known sighting ofpelicans on Lake Nipigon was 12years ago. Following is a listing ofknown pelican sightings on the lake:

June of 1979 12 pelicans Ombabika R. mouth Mr. & Mrs. C. Sutherlandsummers 1980-91 pelicans Ombabika R. mouth Mr. & Mrs. C. Sutherlandsummer, 1984 pelicans Windigo Bay F. Hardy10 July 1989 3 pelicans Windigo Island A. Brennan16 July 1990 1 pelican Mooney Point, P.Odorizzi

McIntyre Bay R. Swainson17 July 1990 2 pelicans McIntyre Bay R. Swainson

R. Hartley18 June 1991 .4 pelicans Ombabika R. mouth R. Kushnier2 July 1991 2 pelicans Ombabika R. mouth R. Kushnier

(both with keell

3 July 1991 14 pelicans Ombabika R. mouth R. Kushnierflying

The first recorded nesting ofAmerican White Pelicans in Ontariowas in 1938 (Peck 1987) when eightpairs nested on Dream Island in Lakeof the Woods (at that time, theeasternmost colony in NorthAmerica). Today, over 6500 pairs nestthere. The Lake Nipigon colony isobviously very much in its infancy. Itwill be interesting to see if it grows ina similar fashion over the next fiftyyears.

AcknowledgementsThis expedition was generouslyfunded by a grant from theCommunity Wildlife InvolvementProgram of the Ontario Ministry ofNatural Resources, and by the JamesL. Baillie Memorial Fund of the LongPoint Bird Observatory through fundsprovided to the Ontario RareBreeding Bird Program. Many thanksto the Nipigon District Office of theMinistry of Natural Resources fortheir help with finding historical data.

Thank you, also, to the birders fromthe Thunder Bay Field NaturalistsClub who conducted the field work.Thanks to Capt. Paul Odorizzi forbringing us all home safely and socomfortably on his boat. Specialthanks to Dr. N.G. Escott for help inall aspects of the trip, andparticularly for his help in preparingthis article.

Literature citedGodfrey, W.E. 1986. The Birds of Canada. Second

edition. National Museums of Canada,Ottawa.

Peck, G.K. 1987. American White Pelican.P. 508 in Atlas of the Breeding Birds ofOntario (M.D. Cadman, P.F.J. Eagles andF.M. Hilleiner, Compilersl. University ofWaterloo Press, Waterloo.

Snyder, L.L. 1928. The summer birds of LakeNipigon. Transactions of the Royal CanadianInstitute 16: 251-277.

Theberge, J.B. 1989. White Pelicans of Lake ofthe Woods. Pp. 364-365 in Legacy: theNatural History of Ontario (J.B. Theberge,Ed.l. McClelland and Stewart, Inc., Toronto.

Susan Bryan, 143 Summit Ave., Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 3P2

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Figure 4: Adult American White Pelican feeding young. Drawing by Chris Kerrigan.

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