...  Redberry Lake Nature Guide.................................................................Home.     . Birds. 

PELICANS AT REDBERRY LAKE


 
Pelicans over the Sailing Club
Redberry Lake is home to one of the largest breeding colonies of white pelicans in Canada. Over 2000 breeding pelicans nest on New Tern Island, and year-old non- breeders swell the size of the colony. Gulls and double- crested cormorants also nest near the pelican colony. 

Small flocks of pelicans can be seen all about the lake. Large concentrations of feeding birds are often met in Swystun Bay and at the mouth of Oscar Creek.

The pelicans usually arrive at Redberry in early May, shortly after ice is out of the Lake.  Nests are little more than a pile of debris scatched together on the bare ground. The pair lays two eggs, but only one chick usually survives to migrate south with its parents in the fall.
.
Human disturbance of colonies is a serious problem: Pelicans will sometimes abandon their nests after a single visit from humans. To protect pelicans and other colonial nesting birds, the islands in Redberry Lake are off-limits to visitors during the nesting season! 
.
Both parents feed the young. The diet of both chicks and adults is mostly fish, with some amphibians and insect larvae. Pelicans usually take small fish rather than large game fish. Because of Redberry's salinity, it has no large fish, but there are sticklebacks and minnows in the lake.

The pelicans also fly to other nearby lakes in search of food. Some travel daily all the way to the South Saskatchewan River at Saskatoon to fish.  Look for them in the early morning, circling upward on up-drafts to begin the daily trek.

Island nest sites are chosen because pelican nesting colonies are very vulnerable to disturbance. Gulls are usually the most significant predator on eggs and nestlings.  Predators like coyotes usually cannot get to island colonies, but when they do, greatly reduce the Pelican's nesting success. Perhaps due to increasing predation, the pelican colony at the lake shifted from Pelican Island to the smaller New Tern Island between 1985 and 1996.
On New Tern Island
.
Disturbance of pelican colonies when settlement reached the prairies began a long decline in pelican numbers. The problem became a near catastrophy in the 1940's and 50's when DDT insecticide was introduced. DDT in the food chain weakens the egg shells of pelicans and raptors, reducing breeding success.  But this is one story about a threatened species with a happy ending.  Pelicans have made a remarkable recovery since DDT was banned in North America and conservation programs like the Redberry Pelican Project put in place.

At Redberry, the number of nesting pairs dropped to only about 100 in 1955.  In 1976, the colony reached its lowest point, when only 70 pelican nests were counted.  But the DDT ban started to have an effect over the next few years.  In 1982,  240 plican pairs nested at the Lake.  By 1985, the number of nests reached 347, and in 1996, 1,178 nests were counted.

Because of its successful recovery, the American white pelican was moved from "Endangered"  status in 1985.  But is still a protected species.  There are  an estimated 400,000 American white pelicans in the world today.  About 28% of them nest in  Saskatchewan.


Image credits

Pelicans in flight:  Saskatoon Sailing Club (Redberry Lake)
Pelican colony:  Redberry Pelican Project/Biosphere