Some local birders got a treat this week when a flock of pelicans made a stop over in South Delta.
A flock of about 13 American white pelicans were seen over the weekend and up until Monday morning.
Richard Swantson saw the birds on the east side of the Brunswick Point marsh around 8:20 a.m. Saturday. By 9:30 a.m. that day the flock was seen circling over the western marsh.
"It is rare, but it's not unheard of," said local naturalist Anne Murray of the pelican sightings, adding that it's likely the flock was on its way to Stum Lake near Williams Lake.
The lake in White Pelican Provincial Park is closed to the public from March until the end of August every year to protect the pelican nesting area.
Murray said the birds were seen again Monday morning, but by that afternoon appeared to have moved on.
This breed of pelicans typically spends the winter on the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts from central California and Florida south to Panama, and along the Mississippi River as far north as St. Louis, before migrating north to Canada to breed in lakes in B.C., Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
Murray said the recent flock was right on schedule as the birds can usually be seen in this area in late May and early June.
She said another possible time to spot pelicans in the area is during the first half of September, when the flock makes its way south for the winter.
