White Pelican at Bellingham Bay, Washington
White Pelican at Bellingham Bay, Washington
The appearance of White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)in this vicinity is perhaps sufficiently out of the ordinary to be worthy of record. On September 5, 1912, a flock of twenty or twenty-five of this species was seen near the mouth of the Nooksack River, at the head of Bellingham Bay. A resident of the neighborhood who went in pursuit shot three of the birds, and an Indian of the Lummi Reservation, across the river, shot two more. I visited the scene on the following day and inspected the dead birds. One appeared to be an adult, and the four others I judged to be immature. Some of these specimens have since been mounted. There is but one other record of this species in the Bellingham Bay region. That occurrence was about twenty-five years ago.
