Pelicans in the Mist (North Platte area birding January 1 and 2, 2015)

And no this isn't a title of a book by Dian Fossey.

On December 26th, 2014, Steve Dinsmore and Kevin Murphy found an adult nonbreeding Brown Pelican at the cooling pond of Sutherland Reservoir, just 30 minutes west of North Platte, NE and just south of Sutherland, NE.  Only a small 4 hours away from our house in Omaha.  Brown Pelicans are "accidental" species in Nebraska, meaning they only show up once or twice every ten years or so.  This one was attempting to overwinter with a small flock of American White Pelicans.  We left at 10:00 AM, on January 1, 2015.  After the 4 hour drive, we arrived at the cooling pond of Sutherland Reservoir.  The cooling pond is a small lake where the water from the reservoir's power plant goes to cool and then it is let back into the reservoir.  It was about 25 degrees F out, and the 60 degree water caused fog or mist to cover the cooling pond.  It obscured most of the lake, so viewing was rather poor from the east side of the pond.  We moved to the south side of the cooling pond, and I began to scope it.  After several minutes, I spotted the Brown Pelican resting on the northern most baffle in the pond.  We then returned to the east side and we were able to get views of the Brown Pelican in the mist.

Brown Pelican (just left of the first Great Blue Heron)

Looking through our scope, we still got poor views of it.  It slept the entire time we were present.

Brown Pelican

Also while we were there, I heard 1 Killdeer calling.

In the morning of January 2nd, we three birded some of the Loess Canyons southeast of North Platte.  The only notable birds we saw were a flock of 200 Wild Turkeys, 1 juvenile "Gambel's" White-crowned Sparrow, and 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, still with some juvenile plumage.  The presence of juvenile plumage indicates this is a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, not a Red-naped.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

We then returned to Sutherland Reservoir to try and get better looks at the Brown Pelican.  We arrived at the cooling pond, and the Brown Pelican was still resting.  Soon, it stood up and started to preen itself.  We got very good looks at it!

Brown Pelican

I paid special attention to its throat and pouch color.  It had a slight reddish color, which may indicate the "Pacific" subspecies, but most interior records of Brown Pelicans seem to represent the "Atlantic" subspecies.  Pouch and throat color is an unreliable characteristic to identify Brown Pelicans to subspecies.

Brown Pelican (note reddish color to throat and pouch)

Just one last picture from the trip: the Brown Pelican stretching.

Brown Pelican stretch

Since the fog was gone, I was also able to count the overwintering waterbirds present.  There were 9 Double-crested Cormorants, 24 American White Pelicans, and 15 Great Blue Herons.

On the way out, we also saw 1 adult Northern Shrike perched on a telephone wire.

We had a good trip and were able to see some good birds.