American White Pelican
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Even from a distance, massive white birds with huge orange bills are easily recognized as American White Pelicans. (The smaller bird at center is a ring-billed gull.) Observed at the Salton Sea, Imperial Co., California, Feb. 2011. The Salton Sea lies in the Colorado Desert, a sub-section of the Sonoran Desert. The formation at right was soaring above the Sonoran Desert, quite far from open water on 5 Apr. 2020.
Massive white bird with an over-sized orange-red bill. In flight the wings are sharply black and white. American White Pelicans gather where there are abundant fish to eat. In the Sonoran Desert this often means tilapia which have been introduced for fish farming activities.
