HUNTINGTON BEACH : Rare Pelicans Wintering in County

White pelicans, once a rare sight in Orange County, have become more common here in the last few years, according to bird experts.

“They normally winter at the Salton Sea, but it’s dying,” said Louann Murray, research director for the Bolsa Chica Conservancy. Now the spectacular birds often winter in Orange County and San Diego, although they still breed at the Salton Sea, Murray said.

The white pelicans first appeared at Bolsa Chica Wetlands in 1985, she said. White pelicans are 5-feet long with a 9-foot wingspan, the largest wingspan of any North American bird other than the condor, which is no longer found in the wild.

Though they are in the same family as brown pelicans, white pelicans are much larger and hunt differently. Rather than diving for their food as brown pelicans do, they sit on the surface and scoop up fish with their yellow-orange beaks, Murray said.

This year, two or three white pelicans are wintering at Bolsa Chica, although in the past, there have been as many as nine, Murray said.

Doug Willick, an Anaheim resident who catalogues rare bird sightings, said white pelicans have been seen in much higher numbers than usual throughout the county for the last several years.

In Orange County, the birds generally are found at Bolsa Chica, upper Newport Bay and in East Anaheim reservoirs along the Riverside Freeway, Willick said. Sometimes the birds are nomadic and meander around the area, he said.

Willick said he sited a flock of about 75 white pelicans last weekend in Anaheim and has seen groups of 100 or more for the last few years.

The white pelicans are not the only once-rare bird to become more common in Orange County, Murray said. Black Skimmers, 18-inch-long birds with black tops and white bottoms, hatch at Bolsa Chica and winter in San Diego, she said. An unusual bird, the black skimmer hunts by flying over the surface of the water with its lower beak in the water.

“It’s hinged to snap back if they hit a snag or something so it doesn’t send them tumbling head over heels,” Murray said. “They’re a really beautiful bird.”