We Often Forget Just How Big The American White Pelican Really Is

Have you ever been really close, I mean extremely close to an American white pelican?

I have and it was an eye-opening experience when you get to appreciate just how big the American white pelican truly is up close and personal like I did.

During the summer of 2021, I was quite fortunate to randomly cross paths with Aimee Van Tatenhove, an energetic young Ph.D. student studying pelicans for her dissertation.

Simply put, Aimee and her volunteers were trying to capture and tag American white pelicans with satellite transmitters at several locations along the Wasatch Front when I happened to meet her on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route.

And what started out as a casual conversation with Aimee ended up with me happily wallowing in knee-high mud at Farmington Bay a couple weeks later where she successfully captured and tagged a pelican, one that I was so fortunate to hold for a moment or two before I released it back into the wild.

This experience gave me firsthand knowledge of just how big the American white pelican really is.

The wingspan of an American white pelican can range anywhere from 8 to 9.5 feet and they can weigh between 9 and 20 lbs.

It is one of our biggest birds in North America that’s capable of flight, a bird that’s said to be bigger than a bald eagle but smaller than a California condor if that gives you any kind of representation of their impressive size.

Take it from me, the American white pelican is indeed an enormous bird when you get to see them in very close proximity like that.

Now I admit that was a most unusual experience very very few people get to have but there are times when you can get pretty close to pelicans just out in the wild doing some casual birdwatching.

One such moment was late last winter when pelicans had migrated back to northern Utah a bit earlier than normal and Farmington Bay had some open water that attracted a very large flock of these early-arriving pelicans that ended up landing and feeding just a few short yards from the airboat launch.

(For short nature clips like this one and interesting stories about the natural world around us, check out our Bear River Blogger channel on YouTube for videos and updates from our travels while out in nature.)

I was able to capture and record that moment with my camera and post it to my YouTube channel as I had never been that close to so many pelicans before.

Sitting there so close to so many feeding pelicans put me in awe and it reminded me just how big these most graceful birds truly are.

American white pelicans can be easily found in wetlands and waterways such as the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route (my personal favorite place to photograph pelicans) and the open waters of Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, both located in Northern Utah.

So next time you see a pelican in flight, take a moment to consider and appreciate just how big that bird really is and how large its wings are as it effortlessly glides by, sometimes just inches above the water’s surface, in search of a place to find a few fish for its next meal.

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